Redemption
by PokeSpeBanette
Summary: Forced to learn how to 'connect' with his pokemon, Green Oak was already having a bad day. And to top it all off? Oak was now sending him on an entirely new journey with a new ability and pokemon that Green never wanted in the first place.
1. Chapter 1- Totodile

Renny: . . .

Red: . . .

Green: . . .

Renny: Sorry?

Red: Another new fanfic, seriously?

Renny: Sorry. I'm kinda doing a SoulSilver Nuzlocke right now . . . And it inspired me to make a Johto thing for you three. Or at least Green.

Green: I'm the main thing again? Yay . . .

Renny: Yep! And you also get to be an eleven year old who needs to learn to be friends with his pokemon. That's actually most of the reason why I wanted to make this, so people would see that even the coldest of people can change.

Red: Are you gonna put Team Rocket in this?

Renny: Nah. Those guys come into it at the GSC arc, so I can't have you three beat the poop out of them before that happens. No, there's a new team. And guess who they're after?

Green: . . . I hate you.

Renny: Uh-huh. Red, you do the disclaimer this time.

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-New Bark town, Johto, Elm's lab-**

"WE'RE GETTING NEW POKEMON!"

Green winced at the volume of the two slightly older kids in front of him. They were bouncing around happily, squealing about the new pokemon. Of course they wouldn't abandon their old ones, but Oak had offered to look after them.

Why were they getting new pokemon?

Because Elm had some new ones that were way too rowdy. He wanted the three of them to try and calm the pokemon down so they could help with his research, and he wanted to research how the three new pokemon reacted to evolving into their final forms.

"Yes, we're getting new pokemon, no need to shout it." Green grumbled. He crossed his arms, looking at the floor.

"Aw, don't be such a grump!" Red laughed. "This is gonna be awesome!"

"Oh, which pokemon you gonna choose?" Blue asked.

"Hm . . . Maybe the fire one this time." Red grinned. "I didn't get a choice last time, so it'll be good to have a choice."

"You mean you didn't want Saur?"

"What? Of course I wanted him!" Red cried. "If I did have a choice he'd be the first one. I'm just saying I want a change."

"You're not getting the fire type." Green snapped. "I am."

"Good luck with that. Oak said that Blue picks first, them me. You go last." Red snickered.

"What!?" Green yelped. "Why am I last?"

"Dunno, but maybe he wants you to actually appreciate the stuff you don't want?" Red shrugged. "Mew knows you need to anyway."

"I hate the both of you so much."

"We know." Red and Blue said.

Green glared at them and sat down on the bench in Elm's lab. There were at least three sections of it, as far as he could tell anyway.

The first section was what he and the two idiots were in. This one was for visitors and such. The second was where Elm did his research on the bonds of Trainer and pokemon (Green scoffed at that). Visitors were allowed there to interact with the different pokemon. The third and final one was where the special pokemon, namely the three they were getting, were kept for special testing and/or research.

Green's mind wandered back to a couple of days ago, when his Grandfather first announced they were getting new pokemon.

**oooo**

**-Oak's lab, flashback-**

"W-we are?" Red blinked. "Why? What'd we do to our other ones?"

"Nothing." Oak said. "They're fine. It's just that Elm wanted three Trainers, skilled ones at that, to help with some research on three pokemon. However, these three are sort of . . . difficult, so that's why he needed skilled Trainers and not new ones."

"So naturally you send us in." Green muttered. "I'm fine with the team I have now. I'm not interested in building a new one from scratch."

"You don't actually have a choice, Green." Oak sighed. "I've already agreed."

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" Green screamed.

"Calm down!" Oak cried. "Look, Elm will explain everything when you get there-"

"Didn't you just explain it now?" Blue asked.

"Well . . . Only the part about the Trainers. Elm will explain everything else."

Green hissed at him.

"Right . . ." Oak said. "Anyway, Green. You go and pack some stuff and get ready. Red, Blue, I need to talk to you two in private."

Green huffed and walked out of the room as Oak led the two idiots into the other room. He didn't care what they were talking about, he just wanted to get out of this.

What was wrong with his old team?

Green kept running that through his head over and over as he got some stuff, Potions and such (they could shrink down. Technology was amazing at this point), and put them into a light brown messenger bag his sister had gotten him a few weeks back.

Back to the pokemon thing. Green didn't get it, and when he didn't get something he worked and worked until he knew everything about it. He'd ask Elm when they got to the lab in Johto.

**-Flashback end-**

**oooo**

So that's how he'd gotten here. Red had packed up some other stuff and put them into a small backpack, and Blue had her own handbag thing. It was sort of bigger than a handbag, but Green didn't know or care what it was so he called it a handbag.

While Red and Blue were chatting quietly to each other, with the occasional glance at Green, he bored holes into the door that Elm was meant to come out of.

It had been at least an hour, and he was getting really impatient.

"That's it, I'm going." Green snapped. He stood up, ready to walk out of the front door, when Elm suddenly walked through the other door.

"Where are you going?" The man asked. "I haven't given you your pokemon yet."

"I don't need it." Green muttered under his breath.

"Professor Elm!" Red grinned. "Hi!"

"Hello, Red!" Elm waved. "At least someone here is friendly."

"I'm friendly too!" Blue giggled.

"Two friendly people then. Just one hostile." Elm smiled.

Green scowled at him, and the man laughed nervously.

"A-anyway, you three can come through to the last room now. They're all ready."

"Yes!" Red cheered. He and Blue followed Elm at a fast pace, while Green just trudged behind them, glaring at their heads.

Elm took them to the back room of the lab, where a machine was resting with a glass case. There were three pokeballs, with three pokemon in there of course.

"These are the new pokemon?" Blue squealed. "They're so cute!"

"Well, just be glad I managed to get them to settle down long enough to put them away." Elm rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Green noticed Elm glance at him, but then the man turned away so fast Green was sure it was just his imagination.

"Now then, why doesn't the lady pick first?" Elm offered. He opened up the glass casing and stepped back for Blue.

"Ooh, so exciting!" Blue giggled. "And this time I'm not stealing my starter as well."

" . . . I'd prefer if you didn't." Elm nodded. "Go on then. I'm sure they're eager to get their new pokemon as well."

Green wasn't as eager as Red or Blue, but he was actually starting to get curious. Not that he'd say it out loud of course.

"I pick . . . this one!" Blue cried. She reached in and grabbed a ball, then brought it back out again.

"All right, now why don't you let the pokemon out so they can see which ones are left?" Elm smiled.

Blue nodded, and released her new pokemon. It was sort of like Bulbasaur, only it was a lighter colour, and its neck was a bit longer. There was a leaf on its head, and it didn't have a bulb.

"This pokemon is called Chikorita." Elm said. "She is the grass type of the bunch, and she's also the most docile of them. Although she does sometimes have her days, of course."

"Oh, so cute!" Blue squealed. She picked up the Chikorita, who was female according to Elm, and grinned. "I think I'll call you . . . Chiky!"

"That's a cool name, but I'm choosing a cool pokemon as well!" Red exclaimed.

"Hold it!" Green snapped. "You're not actually serious, are you?"

"About what?"

"That Grandpa actually let you two pick first and me last." Green said. "You two are gonna leave me with the weakest one, aren't you?"

Blue and Red looked at each other. Green could see some sort of emotion in their eyes, but he didn't know or care what it even was.

"We just want our pokemon." Red said. He seemed quieter than he normally was. "We're not leaving you with the weakest. It'll only be the weakest if you don't actually help it instead of order it about like a machine. Now suck up whatever pride you have, and shut up."

Green, for one, actually did shut up. But he only did it because he was more surprised than anything. Red smirked at him, and grabbed a pokeball from the machine thing.

"Come on out!" He shouted, releasing the pokemon inside. A small, four-legged creature with a cream-coloured underbelly and a darker back/head/whatever. It squealed something, and flames burst out from its back.

"That one would be Cyndaquil." Elm said. "He's the fire type, and he's also a very quick and smart little guy. Although he prefers to use more . . . unorthodox methods."

"Cool!" Red grinned. He picked up the Cyndaquil, and frowned. "I'll call you . . . Quil!"

"Smart." Green huffed. He reached forward to grab the last pokeball, before Elm suddenly stopped him.

"Wait, wait!" Elm cried. "Before you meet your own pokemon, Green, I want you to have this."

Elm produced a pokedex with a black streak mark going across it out of his pocket. He gave it to Green.

"Why do I need this before I take the pokemon?" Green asked as he fiddled with it. The pokedex suddenly opened and Green saw a flash, and then he was dizzy.

"Hey!" Red cried. Like in the Silph Co building, he rushed forward and grabbed Green before he fell down.

"W-what was that?" Green mumbled. His head was hurting.

"Well . . ." Elm sighed. "You'll see, or rather hear, when you let out your pokemon."

Green shook his head slightly. He pushed Red away, growling under his breath. Green muttered obscenities about his Grandfather, and looked over at the machine with the last pokeball in it.

"Whatever you are, you'd better be a good pokemon." He snapped. Green grabbed the pokeball and threw it, and looked at the small and blue crocodile thing that blinked up at him.

"Now that one is Totodile." Elm told him. "He's definitely the smartest out of the group, he's able to read and write you see, and he's also great at coming up with plans, battle or otherwise."

"Yeah? Well, while he's with me, he does the fighting and I do the thinking." Green huffed.

"I'm sorry, but when did I ever agree to that?" The Totodile asked, staring at Green with blank and uncaring eyes.

"You didn't, I made that decision _for_ you, Totodile." Green snapped. He paused.

Green stared at the Totodile, and the Totodile stared at Green.

"You just spoke." Green blinked. "You . . . just spoke."

"Yes, I did." The Totodile said, glaring at Green. "And I'm not Totodile. My name is Ice."

" . . . He just spoke again." Green said. "I-I'm going crazy. I'm going crazy . . ."

"You're not going crazy." Elm said. He sounded soft for some reason.

"I'm going crazy. The Totodile spoke."

"Yes, he did." Elm said. "Well, to you anyway."

"Is . . . Is that what that pokedex thing did?" Green asked. Red and Blue were looking at each other. He couldn't tell what they were thinking, but they must have been laughing on the inside about how confused he was right now.

"It was." Elm nodded. "Did you see a flash, right before you got dizzy?"

"Yes."

"Well, that flash was installing something into your head." Elm explained. "Basically, it gave you the ability to understand the words of any pokemon you register under your name."

"So . . . I'm not crazy?"

"No." Elm shook his head. "You're not crazy, and Ice, as he calls himself, speaks to you and only you."

" . . . Why?"

"Well . . . Did Oak say that I would explain everything else to you three?" Elm asked.

"Actually just Green." Blue said. "He already told us."

"But you'd probably want to listen anyway in case he missed anything out."

"Yep."

Elm nodded and turned to Green, who was still staring at 'Ice'.

"Green." Elm called. Green squeaked and looked up. "Now, I know you're a bit scared-"

"Scared? Who's scared?" Green asked. "I'm not scared. Me? Scared? No. Not at all."

"You're rambling. Calm down."

"I-I'm not scared."

"Sit down."

Green sat on the floor, trying to avoid looking at 'Ice'.

"Now then, I'll explain why you got the pokedex and why you were told to pick last." Elm said. He sat on the floor, and Red and Blue followed. "Green, you remember a week after the league, yes?"

"Grandpa talked to me about something . . . something . . ."

"He spoke to you about the way you operate with your pokemon." Elm said. Green nodded. "Well, he told me about it as well. We discussed it for a while, and finally came up with the conclusion that you needed to learn how to work _with_ your pokemon instead of just commanding them.

"Oak sent me an empty pokedex, with nothing in it, and I started work on it. I made all the right components, and also installed a chip that would allow the owner of the pokedex to understand whatever pokemon is registered to him or her. Oak also had you re-register your Trainer license at that point, yes?"

Green nodded again.

"It was verbal wasn't it?" Another nod. "Well, when you said your name, the pokedex registered your voice. This one, I mean. After that, all it needed was for you to touch it and you'd be the full owner of it."

"But you made me understand pokemon." Green said. "Why?"

"Like I said, you needed to learn to work with your pokemon." Elm said. "To do this, Oak had a pokemon sent over from his own lab. That pokemon was Totodile, or Ice. Ice was a smart pokemon, and he was also more advanced than the other starters we had bred. So Oak decided that you would have him, and Red and Blue would have the two left over.

"However, we couldn't guarantee that you would choose Ice. So, Oak talked to Red and Blue, told them what they needed to know and do, and that you would choose last. Whatever they choose, they had to leave Totodile."

"He told us everything up to that point." Blue nodded. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"Yes, actually." Elm said. "Oak originally intended for only Green to do this. But when he realised that there would be three choices for Green, he had to get you two in on it and tell you what was planned. Now, remember, this whole thing happened because you couldn't connect with your pokemon, Green."

"I don't need to connect with them." Green bristled. "They just need to follow my orders, and-"

"Don't you _dare_ talk down to me." 'Ice' snapped. "If you can understand me, then you are my partner."

"Please stop talking." Green gasped. "Please."

"And don't tell me to shut up either!" 'Ice' snarled. "Look, you uptight brat, you gotta learn to actually work with someone other than absolutely no one!"

"I don't know what Ice just said, but I'm sure you're a bit unsettled by his speaking." Elm smiled.

"You think!?" Green yelled. "You just gave me a pokedex that gave me a headache and an unwanted ability, and you tell me I'm gonna be out there because Grandpa wants me to 'connect' with a bunch of brainless beasts!"

"Brainless?" Elm raised an eyebrow. "I've just told you, Ice can read and write. He may even be smarter than you."

"Pokemon are animals, and as such they act like it." Green snapped. "This . . . This is a dream. Or something. Someone hypnotised me."

"Can I pinch you?" 'Ice' asked.

"SHUT UP!" Green screamed.

"Green, I don't know what he said, but you don't tell him to shut up." Red snapped.

"He's . . . He's freaking me out, ok!?" Green yelped. "Pokemon just don't talk!"

"Well, I am, and-"

"SHUT UP!"

"Moving on." Elm sighed. "Red, Blue. Oak said he wanted you two to keep an eye on Green, which was actually another reason why he had you two come as well."

"We're traveling with him?" Red asked, dismayed.

"No." Elm shook his head. "The three of you will meet in the local pokemon centre of each town or city, and Green will tell you his progress. Or you could have a battle to see if he's gotten any better, because he'll probably too busy telling his new team to shut up."

"Well, at least we don't have to travel with him." Blue shrugged to Red.

Their reluctance to go anywhere with Green was hurtful. Was he really that bad a person?

Elm stood up and gestured for Red, Green and Blue to do the same thing.

"Now then, you two come with me to get your pokedex's and I'll-"

"Hold it." Green said. They all looked at him. "Last time that happened Grandpa told those idiots what you two had planned for me. By the way, I don't have a say in this at all and I don't like it. So, I'm going with you in case you're gonna keep even _more_ secrets from me."

"I wasn't doing that." Elm muttered. "But fine. On one condition."

"Yes?"

"Keep Ice out of his ball."

Green stared at Ice (he'd accepted the fact that it was real now, sort of) and glared.

"No."

"Then you don't get to know what I say. If I even say anything." Elm said. Green growled and put the pokeball onto his belt, but didn't return the Totodile into it.

"Fine, but he stays quiet." Green snapped.

"I'm not staying silent just because I scare your pretty-boy face." Ice scoffed.

"You two really need to work with him." Elm sighed.

"I know." Red murmured.

"It'll probably take some huge disaster to actually make him care." Blue said.

"And even then he'd still be a jerk."

Hurtful.

**oooo**

**-Outside Elm's lab, a few minutes later-**

"So, you two are gonna travel together?" Green asked as they walked out. "And . . . you don't want me anywhere near you unless we're in a new town or whatever."

"Pretty much." Red shrugged. "I don't wanna deal with your complaining about Ice talking or something, so me and Blue are gonna go on ahead to Cherrygrove city."

"Yep!" Blue grinned. "We're gonna do whatever, and then wait for you so we can check your progress. Then we'll battle you."

"You can't expect me to actually get anything done in a day." Green snapped.

"We sort of do. It's what an Oak does, right?" Red raised an eyebrow at Green, who scowled again. He'd been doing a lot of that lately.

" . . . You're sure Grandpa didn't say anything about staying together?"

"Nope. He said nothing of the sort." Blue said. "Why? You scared?"

"Freaked out is a better word for it." Green scoffed. "I'm given a pokedex that allows me to understand whatever pokemon I catch, and you two are acting like this is totally normal. And on top of that, you're ditching me."

"Well, we kinda freaked out when Oak told us." Red laughed. "But we said stuff more along the lines of 'if Green gets a talking pokemon then he's gonna do bad stuff' and all that."

"You have so much faith in me." Green muttered. "Can you two not tell everyone how 'violent' I am, just once?"

"Hey, the world needs to know about Green the Jerk." Red shrugged.

They both walked off to Route 29. Green stared after them, and sat down in the grass. Ice walked up beside him.

"You have some pokeballs, so we should go and catch more pokemon." The water pokemon suggested.

"I've already got one blabbermouth." Green said. "I don't want another one."

"Well, excuse me for volunteering to be with you." Ice snapped.

"You volunteered?"

"No one else wanted to. They all knew what you were like." Ice huffed. "And honestly? The stories are true. You're a selfish little brat with a serious case of anger issues."

"Hey!"

"Just saying it as I see it, brat." Ice said. "Move it."

"I'm the Trainer. I give the orders." Green said.

"Not while I'm around."

Green glared at the small crocodile as he walked off. Green stood up and went after him, trailing behind at a slow pace.

He still didn't want to do this. Green didn't understand why his Grandpa couldn't have just given him the new pokedex and let him keep his old team. There was nothing wrong with them at all.

But what about what Ice said?

"_No one else wanted to."_

Did that mean the pokemon were all scared of him? Green frowned. Was it a bad or a good thing if they were scared?

On one hand, if they were scared they were easier to command. But it also made them prone to being terrified during battle, and he might lose control of them.

Ice went because the other pokemon didn't want to. He didn't seem scared of Green at all, but Ice was probably a brave, or just really serious, pokemon. But, if Ice wasn't scared and all he did was insult Green, then that probably did mean that the other pokemon weren't scared either.

And if that was true, then that would mean none of them wanted to go with Green because none of them liked him, and they all thought the same as Ice did.

Well, that's just unfair and . . . cold.

And Red said he was the jerk.

"Hey, Totodile." Green called.

"The name's Ice."

"Fine, Ice, whatever. Why didn't one of the other lot wanna go with me?" Green asked.

"They heard stuff about how ruthless your training is." Ice said. "One time there was a Meowth that came in. She was covered in scratches and bruises. She told us that your training nearly got her killed."

Green could sort of remember a Meowth he'd tried to train. He'd heard once that Persian was an amazing fighter, but the Meowth was hard to train when all it wanted to do was sit and get its belly rubbed.

"She told us that you'd given her over to your Grandfather, saying that she was completely useless." Ice went on. "Even if she hated the way you trained, that comment still hurt her. She was the first of many to come, though. Any pokemon that was boxed straight away was spared from your training, and any unlucky ones were pitied."

Ice was making Green sound like a Rocket or something.

"Sometimes one would come in, crying and wailing about how you called it names or trained it way to hard." Ice huffed. "To be honest, I hated you the second the Meowth came in. The others only fuelled it."

"So . . . why go?" Green asked. His voice seemed quiet and weak for some reason.

"Like I said, the others completely hated you." Ice said. "They wanted nothing to do with you unless it was to give you a piece of their minds, and I was the only one who was willing to go. Of course, I'm only here because of Elm and the fact that I want to help teach you a lesson about real training, but I see you're pretty much a lost cause."

Green slowed until he wasn't even moving. Ice seemed to notice and the water type turned around.

"Having second thoughts? Doubts? Gonna cry?" Ice smirked. "Good. Because that's what I'm here for. I'm a spokesperson for the pokemon _you_ abused. I'm here to make sure you actually do something right for a change. I'm here because you're an idiot in serious need of an actual beating."

Now he was just rubbing salt into Green's wounds. How much more verbal abuse was he going to take today?

"Pidgey!" A bird cawed. It was up in a tree, somewhere above Green's head. "Pi!"

"Thank you." Ice bowed. The Pidgey flew off, cawing something else.

"See?" Ice would have raised an eyebrow had he had one. "Even wild pokemon agree."

" . . . Of course they do." Green said. He started off again, walking past Ice. Ice tried to talk again, but Green tuned him out because all he could hear was the stories of how badly he'd trained or failed to train the boxed pokemon.

Ice even went as far as to talk about how Green's old team had bad stories as well.

"Ice." Green said. Ice stopped talking for a second. "Can . . . Can you please stop that? I've heard enough."

"Enough to change?"

"Enough to box you forever, if this is how you carry on." Green snapped. "Look, I don't see a pokemon who's weak and train it. I see a pokemon who's weak, catch it, and I box it. I see a strong one and I train it because it can take it."

"Clearly that's not going to work here, since you can actually hear us." Ice said. "That means you need to work with all of us instead of just picking and choosing."

"I do what I want." Green snarled. "And you, you stupid little pokemon, have no say in anything I do. Understand?"

"No. And I'll keep opposing you until you actually realise what a failure you are."

"I'm not a failure. And I don't ever intend to be."

**OOOOOO**

Renny: I should probably mention that this is only based off the run, and as such it won't have the same pokemon or the same deaths. Of course, we all know that Ice is the only one who's actually the same as in-game Ice, but anyone else is changed or they stay the same with different personalities.

Green: You've given me issues in the first chapter! Why so soon, you little piece of-

Renny: It's funny. Plus, we get to see just how bad of a Trainer you are. This way people can read, and they can see how you evolve from bad Trainer to amazing Trainer.

Red: She has a point.

Renny: I'm the author, I always have a point. Read, review and comment!


	2. Chapter 2- First Blood

Renny: There was a Guest review on the last chapter saying "I love you A/N". What's A/N mean?

Red: Dunno.

Renny: Ok, whoever that Guest was, can you tell me in your next review? I kinda need to know since it's probably gonna keep up my mind for the rest of the day . . . Or week. Or however long it takes me to write this.

Red: Whose turn is it for the disclaimer?

Renny: I think its Green's this time.

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: Put more enthusiasm into it!

Green: . . .

Renny: Ugh. On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Route 29-**

Ice was still talking. For a serious pokemon, he sure had a big mouth. Mind you, he did have a big mouth to start off with.

"Are you listening?" Ice asked.

Green glanced up, and rolled his eyes.

"No." He said. "Look, you know Johto better than I do, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, mind leading the way instead of sitting on my head?" Green growled. Ice shrugged and jumped off of Green's spiky, grey-brown hair.

"I like your hair. It's soft." Ice said. Green paused for a split second, making a face, and then he carried on.

"That was just weird." Green shuddered. "Look, back in Kanto, I had a vague idea of where I was going because Grandpa installed a map into my pokedex. This new one doesn't have that, so I'm basically lost here. You're not."

"Well, I was bred and raised in Kanto." Ice said. "But Oak did teach me to read maps, and the Johtoian ones at that."

"Good. Then take me to Cherrygrove city." Green told him.

"Hmm . . . No."

"Why not!?" Green snapped.

"Because you're the Trainer, and I'm the pokemon." Ice scoffed. He sounded like he was copying some words he'd heard and was being sarcastic about it. "And if you're the Trainer, then you lead the way. Isn't that what you said a couple of hours ago?"

" . . . I changed my mind." Green sighed, exasperated. "Look, I'm tired and we're lost. You're currently the only one out of the two of us who actually knows where he's going. So, for the love of whatever god you pray to, lead the way."

"Well, you certainly learned to ask nicely." Ice muttered. "Fine, fine. Just let me get my bearings and I'll have us to Cherrygrove within the day."

"Within what day?"

"What rock have you lived under?" Ice asked. "Don't answer that. It was a rhetorical question."

" . . . What's a rhetorical question?"

"Oh for the love of . . ."

Ice scowled, leading to Green thinking he'd done something wrong. But then again, according to pretty much everyone, he was always doing something wrong. He just _could not_ please these people.

"Look, a rhetorical question is something which doesn't need an answer. Like, 'what rock have you lived under'?" Ice explained. He sounded a bit angry. "Basically, it's a question that states the obvious sometimes, or maybe a question that pretty much insults someone."

"So, if I asked whether or not you were a patronising jerk," Green frowned, "Then you wouldn't have to answer it?"

" . . . I'm not even going to _try_ and answer that one."

"Whatever. Which way?" Green asked.

Ice pointed off to a clot of trees to the left, and led the way through them. At first Green though about doubling back and getting a knife or something to cut through the trees and vines, but Ice started scratching at the vines and leaves until they came apart, revealing a slightly worn down path.

"This way." Ice said.

"How'd you do that without Cut?" Green asked.

"I trained to use Scratch as a substitute for Cut." Ice murmured, cutting away at some low-hanging vines. "It was easy for me, since I have sharp claws."

"Oh. That was . . . clever."

Ice stopped and turned to stare at Green. Green stared back. He got irritated in five seconds.

"What now?" Green huffed.

"You just complimented me." Ice said. "And you've only known me for less than ten hours."

"Well, it was a pretty clever thing." Green mumbled, shuffling his feet. "And . . . And I'm not heartless. Despite what some might think."

" . . . This is strange." Ice frowned. "I'm actually starting to believing you."

"Ugh, fine, whatever." Green snapped. "Don't believe me if you don't want to. Sheesh."

Ice rolled his eyes and looked back at the path again. He lifted a claw to his face and glanced up.

"Looks like we'll have to camp soon." He said. "It's getting dark."

"Oh, hooray." Green muttered.

"Scared?"

"_No_, I just wanted to sleep in a warm bed for once." Green sighed. "I already got sick of camping in Kanto. Did you know we have incredibly bad weather there? It rained nearly every week."

"Yes, actually." Ice rolled his eyes and turned back to the path ahead of them. "I was raised there."

"Eh, I keep forgetting. You are a Johto pokemon, after all."

"True. Wait." Ice growled as they walked. "This doesn't mean we're bonding or anything."

"I already said I don't need to 'connect' with a pokemon to be able to fight with it." Green shrugged. "So I dunno why you think we're 'bonding'."

"You need to connect to actually battle in sync." Ice said. "Red beat you in the pokemon league, right?"

" . . . That was pure luck."

"No. He said you don't know what friendship is." Ice smirked. "You might have trained your pokemon, but they don't understand you well enough to actually fight to their full potential. That's how Red beat you. Because he could come up with a plan and his pokemon could carry it out flawlessly, and yet you come up with one and your pokemon can barely make it happen."

"Alright, alright." Green waved. "I get it. But friendship isn't how I train pokemon, got that? I don't need to 'bond' or 'connect' with you to get you to fight for me."

"Hmph. Answer this, Green." Ice closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "If you win, how do you see it as? Was it because of you, or because of your pokemon?"

"Me, of course. I'm the one who commanded them." Green said.

"And if you lose?"

"The pokemon. They didn't carry out the orders I gave them properly." Green glanced at Ice. "Why are you asking this?"

" . . . Both of your answers are wrong." Ice growled. He opened his eyes, glaring at Green. "When you win, it's because the pokemon was able to fight for you and connect with you. When you lose, it's because of your own inability to connect and help your pokemon. That's how Red sees it. Or at least, that's what the pokemon he's caught says."

"Well, I'm not Red, am I?" Green snapped. "So stop comparing me to that emotional idiot and start listening to me, you stupid crocodile."

Ice narrowed his eyes even more. Green took a small step away from him, but wasn't able to dodge the Scratch that was sent his way. He yelped and fell down, hand on his cheek. It felt wet.

"W-what was that for!?" Green yelled.

"You keep insulting me and next time I won't miss." Ice hissed. He jumped onto Green and held out his claws as a threat. "Listen here, brat. My name is Ice. I am a Totodile whose parents came from Johto but was born in Kanto. I came with you because I wanted to teach you a lesson on how to connect and fight with your pokemon. I wanted to stop you abusing whatever pokemon you catch just because you're 'smarter' then it."

"Clearly you're delusional."

"Says the boy being held at claw-point by a tiny blue crocodile." Ice snapped. Green stopped talking. "Now listen, you. If you keep insulting me, I'll write down every single word you say, and write everything you say and do to other pokemon you catch as well, and then I'll send it to your Granddaddy. Once he sees you're not fit to be a Trainer, he'll take away whatever privileges you had and you won't even get to near a pokemon for the rest of your life. Understand?"

" . . ."

"I said, do you understand?" Ice barked.

"Fine, whatever." Green cried. "Just let up, you stu- . . . Ice."

"There you go. Much better." Ice smirked. He jumped off Green, and let the boy sit back up.

Green took his hand away from his cheek and saw blood on his hand. He blinked and poked his cheek gently, and flinched at the sting he got in return.

"Ow." He muttered. Ice rolled his eyes, and started walking again.

"Hurry up. We'll have to keep walking if we want to get out of this place after nightfall, you know."

"I thought we were camping?"

"When it's night. Not now, dummy."

"You said-"

"I never said anything about me insulting you."

"You insult me, and I'll insult you back."

"You insult me, and I'll take away your Trainer status."

Green scowled and looked at the ground, crossing his arms.

"Are you sulking?"

"Maybe." Green muttered. Ice ignored him and went back to looking at the trees.

Green just kept silent, letting the Totodile lead the way through the forest. He thought that if he'd just do this for his Grandfather, then maybe Oak would see that he was still good enough to be a Trainer, even if he didn't 'connect' with them like the idiot Red did.

Half of Green's life had been 'Train, train, train'. There was never any room for failure, and as such no room for bonds, unless you counted the unspoken agreement between him and Scyther. Oak had told Green once that a strong team wasn't what won. But Green had gone off to prove him wrong, and yet he'd failed to best Red and even Blue in any of their battles after the league.

Blue, of all people, could beat him in the same amount of time as Red. Green thought at one point they were secretly training against him or were bribing his pokemon to lose, but that quickly went away as soon as he realised how stupid it sounded.

At one point he'd started refusing battles with them. He started battling other people, since it was virtually impossible to fight against either of them and at least beat_ one_ of their dumb pokemon. And half of their teams had weaknesses to Green's pokemon, yet they mocked him by sending in their weakest against his strongest. Which, admittedly, was how Red won in the league. Instead of being smart and sending in Gyarados, he sent in Venusaur.

Another thing about that. Green hadn't used Pidgeot in the battle because it was tired out and wasn't able to fight anymore, while the others were at full health. Red had his full team and yet only used four without any reason to.

So basically, Green had used his entire team save for Pidgeot who was unable to battle to start off with, and yet Red won with four pokemon. And they were at a lower level as well.

Green growled under his breath and clenched his fists. Not this time. If he challenged the league they had in Johto, he would win. Not through any means of this stupid 'connecting' stuff, but through sheer power and force. Red wouldn't even know what hit him, and Blue would be left behind because she was weak as well.

Anyone who stood in Green's way could shut up and die.

"Are you sulking or thinking of ways to kill people?" Ice suddenly asked.

"None of your business." Green snapped.

"Whatever. You might wanna be quiet for a bit though." Ice said.

"Don't tell me what to-"

"I'm serious, brat." Ice hissed. "Keep your voice down. Around here is where a huge flock of Pidgey live. They're very territorial and they don't take kindly to strangers."

"They're just Pidgey." Green scoffed. "What's so bad about it?"

"If you fought one, you'd win easily." Ice snapped. "If you fought an entire flock, you'd be killed or at least mortally wounded."

"That's . . . slightly terrifying." Green blinked.

"So, now you see why I want you to shut up."

"Fine. Just this once, I'll listen to you."

They kept going. Green began to notice some brown and black shapes in the trees, which were probably the Pidgey Ice had mentioned.

At one point Green thought he saw a dark brown and black shape, but he quickly passed it off as his imagination. After all, a Spearow couldn't be in this Route. He'd checked.

But then again, Spearow had appeared at the worst of times when he was in Kanto. At one point, Green was camping in Route 22, waiting for a Mankey or something. A whole group of Spearow had attacked, and he only just got away with his life and his whole team intact.

So, of course he understood why Ice was worried about the Pidgey, but at least they weren't as bad as the-

"Hello."

Green yelled and collapsed in shock. A dark brown bird smiled at him and giggled.

"You're silly." She said. "I like that."

"U-uh." Green gasped. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm-"

"Hey, what'd I say about being quiet?" Ice snapped, coming back. He paused when he saw the Spearow in front of Green.

"Who's that?" He asked.

"I have no idea." Green said. "But she's talking."

"Wait, you can only understand pokemon you've caught." Ice frowned. "So how can you understand her?"

"Well," The nameless Spearow laughed, "I sort of got into one of his pokeballs on my own, see. And then I let myself out and said hi!"

"How'd you manage that without alerting me or him?" Green asked.

"Oh, I just do that sort of thing." The Spearow shrugged. "Its fun, but most Trainers release me after finding out they had me. So, I decided to try one more time, and find a Trainer who can understand me!"

"That's . . ." Ice blinked. "Well, no wonder the others let you go. You kept startling them."

"She startled me." Green pointed out.

"And you screamed like a little- Oh no."

"What's wrong?" The Spearow asked.

"He screamed."

"What's wrong with that?" Green asked. "She scared me. I reacted how everyone would react."

"You made a loud noise."

"And?"

"You woke up the Pidgey."

Green glanced behind himself and froze.

"Oh, why did I look?" He gaped.

**oooo**

**-Cherrygrove city-**

"He should have been here by now." Red muttered. Blue rolled her eyes for the tenth time that night.

"He probably took a wrong turn or something. Remember, he doesn't have a map like we do." She said. "Hey, how about we battle?"

"Not until Green gets here."

"Worrywart." Blue muttered.

"How can I help it? He's probably killed Ice by now." Red sighed. "Not my fault I worry about his pokemon's safety."

"He'll do fine. He hasn't killed his other pokemon."

"Yet."

Blue, again, rolled her eyes. "Red, seriously. You were way more fun a few hours ago. Why'd you change your mind?"

"Uh, because Green freaked out so badly he went into partial shock?" Red suggested. "How am I meant to rest easy when he's out there, probably killing anything he catches? It's not like he tries to be carefu-"

The pokemon centre doors crashed open, and a wet and panting figure collapsed to the ground on his knees.

"Holy Mew, is that Green?" Blue gasped.

"It is." Red murmured. "But . . ."

Green gasped for breath, and stood up. There was a small creature in his arms, and he was staring at it blankly. Ice came crashing in a few seconds later, screeching something.

"What's that in his arms?" Blue asked. Just as the words left her mouth, Green ran over to the Nurse and spoke quickly. He sounded panicked, but Red had no idea what he was saying.

"Let's go see what's wrong." Blue said. Red nodded and they stood up, about to go over. Green gave the Nurse the thing in his arms, and took a small step back.

Then he collapsed onto the ground, curling up and shaking. Ice ran over and started murmuring something, but again Red had no idea what was being said.

He and Blue slowly walked over, and crouched down.

"Green?" Red whispered. "What's wrong?"

"I-I caught a Spearow . . ." Green cried. He looked up, and Red went quiet.

"What's so bad about that?" Blue asked.

"She . . . She's dead." Green gasped. He buried his face in his arms.

"D-dead?" Red gasped. "But . . . How?"

"Toto. Dil, to to to dile di dile." Ice said.

"They can't understand you, Ice." Green mumbled.

"Toto dile . . ."

"Green, are you alright?" Red asked.

Green looked up again, and now Red could see the injuries he had. There was a small gash on his cheek, and bruises all over his body, as far as Red could tell. His clothes seemed a bit torn.

"What happened?" He asked, softer.

"Pidgey flock." Green mumbled. "I . . . The Spearow scared me and I screamed and . . . I woke them all up. And . . ."

"They attacked." Blue finished.

"The leader killed Spearow, but I caught her before she could get away. I don't even know why . . ."

"Where's the Pidgey now?" Red asked.

"Being healed." Green muttered. "Ice attacked her badly after we got out of the forest . . . I stopped him but I don't want anything to do with her."

"Green, you have to talk to the Pidgey." Red told him.

" . . . No. I'm releasing her." Green muttered. "All I need is the data and . . . I got it."

"Yeah, but you also need a new team mate." Red said. "Look, Green, I'm sorry about Spearow and I'm sorry I wasn't there to help . . . But that Pidgey was only defending her friends and territory. You can't blame her for that."

Green said nothing.

"Toto dile to to todile Totodile." Ice said. Green glanced down at the blue pokemon and sighed.

"Fine." He mumbled. "But you two are helping."

"That's alright then." Blue nodded. "Perfectly understandable."

"Do it tomorrow." Red said. "It's a bit late, and it'll take a while for Pidgey to be healed anyway. What're you gonna do with Spearow's body?"

" . . . I buried her already." Green said. "She didn't even get a chance to name herself."

"Where's the grave?"

"I . . . Somewhere. It's got a rock and a stick." Green sighed. "I'm . . . I'm tired."

"Totodile." Ice said. "Toto."

"I know, Ice." Green snapped. "I know . . ."

"What'd he say?" Blue asked.

"We're meant to be camping out."

"Don't." Red shook his head and stood, and helped Green stand up as well. "You can do that tomorrow, or something. Right now you need to get to bed, and then in the morning you can talk to the Pidgey. Alright?"

"Yeah . . ."

Red nodded. He glanced at Ice, who started to climb onto Green's head, and nestled himself in the boy's hair. Green didn't say anything, but he reached up and took hold of the Totodile, cuddling him.

Red took Green to his and Blue's room (conveniently a triple room, since it was the only one left), and left Blue to talk to the Nurse about the Pidgey.

Green took off his messenger bag and shoved it under the unoccupied bed, and set Ice down on it. He sat down and started quietly talk to the pokemon, but Red didn't try to intrude. It wouldn't be nice, not after what had just happened.

Then again, he knew it would happen anyway.

"_There's a drawback of the installation, though." Oak had said._

"_Drawback?" Blue asked. "What kind?"_

"_Once installed into the pokedex, and once Green touches it," Oak explained, "He will be able to understand any pokemon that gets registered to him. Even if the pokedex is destroyed he can still understand them. But . . ."_

"_But what, Professor?" Red asked. He was getting impatient._

"_You both know that Trainer pokemon have a five percent chance of accidently dying in battle." Oak said. _

"_Yeah." The two nodded._

"_Well . . . With everything that's good, there is always something bad." Oak sighed. "For Green, when he touches the pokedex, any pokemon registered to him is able to speak to him and only him. Unfortunatly . . . they also gain a larger chance of dying. Up to around forty percent actually."_

"_W-what?" Red gasped. ". . . How do you know?"_

"_We've done this before." Oak said. "As an experiment. We found that the person who the pokedex belongs to is able to understand his or her own pokemon, but only theirs. And then when they battled . . . their pokemon died a lot more then normally."_

"_Are you sure you want Green to have that pokedex?" Blue breathed. "He . . . He might just shut down. Get worse."_

"_I know. But the tests we ran with other people showed that they formed a closer bond because of the increased death percentage." Oak said. "Despite the shock and pain that comes with each death, they grow closer to the ones that live. That's why I want Green to do this. Even if it means his pokemon could die at any time."_

At that time, it made so much sense when Oak had explained it. But now? Looking at Green, bruised, hurt, emotionally torn, it didn't seem like such a good idea.

It was just horrible. Red had no idea what Green had seen, or how the Spearow had been killed. But it was bad enough so that Green was scared, or he was just numb.

And it hadn't even been a day yet.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Ok, so I lied. All pokemon and deaths will be the same.

Red: Why was the Spearow dead so fast?

Renny: Mainly because I barely had her for like . . . an hour. Training accident. It was actually against a Rattata, but she was weakened by a Pidgey previously. I didn't heal her because she was nearly the same level as Ice, but then the Rattata got a crit and she died. But it was easier to say that she died from a Pidgey, and what better Pidgey then the one Green catches in Route 29?

Green: You're cruel.

Renny: I know. Read, review and comment!


	3. Chapter 3- Scars

Renny: How's it going peeps? Oh, and thanks for the second review Guest. A/N meant Authors Note, heh.

Red: What'd you think it meant?

Renny: Anonymous. And I'm surprised to hear and see that someone other than a friend of mine actually reads the Author Notes. I'm pretty sure a lot of people do to, but most don't even bother anyway so it kinda defeats the purpose of those who actually do . . .

Green: You barely read them either.

Renny: Well, only when I want to. It depends on whether or not I'm bored enough to read the whole thing or just the story bit.

Red: That sort of makes sense.

Renny: Of course it does. Whose turn is it now?

Red: Mine.

Renny: Go on then.

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Cherrygrove city, pokemon centre-**

"WHAT!?"

Green gripped the table in front of him hard, glaring at his Grandfather on the screen of the video phone.

"And why you didn't think to tell me _that_," He snapped, "At any point?"

"Green, I just didn't want you to give up." Oak sighed. "Calm down."

"Are you kidding me? Why would I calm down if you just told me I'm basically a walking deathbed for pokemon!?" Green cried. "You should have said something about it before! Or at least Elm should have!"

"He must have forgotten then." Oak said. "Green, just calm down and let me explain-"

"I don't care." Green hissed. "I don't care why you're making me do this, and I certainly don't care how it was done either. But if any other pokemon die, it's on your head!"

Green stood up and walked away, ignoring Red and Blue. He glanced back to see them talking to Oak, and he scoffed.

They were probably discussing something he wasn't allowed to know again. Green growled under his breath, and looked over at Ice, who was watching over the pokeball containing the Pidgey.

Green still didn't like it for killing the nameless Spearow, but he would talk to it if it would get Red and Blue to shut up about it.

**oooo**

**-Route 30-**

Red looked around one more time before he went back to Green and sat down again.

"Alright, we're gonna do this here because if Green starts shouting at the Pidgey then we won't have to deal with people staring." Blue said.

" . . . I'm not having it on my team." Green muttered.

"You still need a flier." Ice rolled his eyes. "Just ask the Pidgey why she killed the Spearow and we can all be happy."

"You're the one who attacked it to start off with." Green snapped. "So it's your fault."

"Well, they attacked first."

"They stared at us."

"So I threw a Water Gun in their faces for being creepy."

Green glared at him. "You're worse than me."

"Green, stop arguing with Ice and send out the Pidgey." Red sighed.

Green growled slightly, and brought out the ball containing the 'demon' Pidgey. He paused for a second, but a glance from Red and Blue and he was releasing the bird inside.

The Pidgey he'd caught was larger than the average Pidgey. The black markings that were normally on a Pidgey's face were longer and ran down to its wings, but didn't go over them. There was a small, dark brown crest on the top of the Pidgey's head, and its tail feathers were slightly darker than the rest of its body.

"Well, that's a weird looking Pidgey." Red frowned.

"Maybe it's shiny?" Blue suggested.

"A 'shiny'?" The Pidgey sniffed. "I think not. I am a royal member of the Pidgey flock of the 29th pathway."

"You think I actually care about that?" Green snapped. "I don't care if you're meant to be royalty, the problem still stands."

"And what problem is that, pray tell?"

"You murdered my Spearow." Green growled. He felt Red's hand on his arm, but he didn't back down.

"And I am sorry for your loss." The Pidgey said. "But I was merely defending my territory."

"I don't _care _what you-"

"Green." Red said. "Don't."

Green glanced at him, eyes slightly wider than normal. Red had what was probably the most serious face that Green had ever seen on the boy.

" . . . Whatever." Green scoffed. He turned away, back to the Pidgey. "What's your name? Might as well have one if I'm gonna keep you . . ."

"I do not wish to stay with you, you uncouth human." The Pidgey said. "I wish to be taken back to my flock."

"Well, too freakin' bad." Green barked. "You're not going anywhere near that Route ever again."

"Route?"

"He means pathway." Ice explained. "Human's and some pokemon call them Routes."

"You are domestic." The Pidgey sighed. "Of course, I get captured by a Trainer who has domestic pokemon."

"You're domestic now." Green glared. "So stop complaining and tell me your name."

"Fine. I will play along with this 'game' of yours." The Pidgey huffed. "I am Princess Twintera Gracious Heradon the third."

" . . . That's a big name." Ice frowned. "Can we just call you Twin instead?"

"You may not." Twintera Gracious Heradon the third snapped.

"It'll be easier."

"What'd it say, Green?" Red asked.

"She said her name is Twintera . . . what was the rest of it?" Green blinked.

"Fine, you may call me Twin if my name is too difficult to pronounce." Twintera Gracious Heradon the third sighed.

"Her name's Twin." Green said.

"That's a weird name." Red frowned. "Then again, she's a weird Pidgey so . . . I guess it makes sense."

Twin mumbled something.

"What was that?" Ice asked.

"I said, 'I wish to be taken back home'." Twin said. "This is by far the most idiotic thing that has ever happened to me."

"Sorry." Green shrugged. "But because these two idiots insist, and Ice as well, you're staying with me until further notice."

"Idiots?"

"Red and Blue."

"Who are they?"

"The other two humans. The one sitting next to me is Red, and the girl is Blue."

"Why'd you call us idiots?" Blue whined.

"In my eyes, you two are idiots." Green shrugged. "Deal with it."

"Well at least you care about the Spearow that Twin killed." Red shrugged. "Just try and be nicer for a bit, ok?"

"Why? According to you two, I'm a jerk." Green said. "Why would I change that?"

"I give up." Blue sighed. "C'mon, Red. We gotta get to Violet city soon."

"Right." Red nodded. The two stood up, and Red glanced back down at Green. "Green?"

"What now?"

"Just . . . Be careful, ok?"

" . . . Fine." Green sighed. "I'll try."

"That's all I can ask for." Red smiled. Blue had already gone, so Red quickly went off in the same direction to catch up with her.

"So, you are now my Trainer." Twin said. "That is . . . unfortunate."

"What's that meant to mean?" Green snapped.

"You do not seem like the type to connect with your-"

"I get that enough from Red and Blue." Green snapped. "No need to rub it in my face here."

" . . . As you say." Twin shrugged.

"Yeah, I do say."

"Charming." Twin murmured to Ice. Green heard her clearly though.

"Well, you'll get used to him." Ice said.

"Is he always like this?"

Green got up and started off, only briefly looking back to see if Ice and Twin were following him. They were, so he carried on.

"Him? Yeah." Ice said. Green could tell he was nodding. "He's sort of the type to only like strong pokemon and not weak ones. He's impatient and a big bully."

"Does he abuse pokemon?"

"Depends on the pokemon he catches really." Ice sighed.

"So, that's a yes." Twin hummed. "Should we not revolt?"

"Revolt? No." Ice was probably shaking his head. "His Granddaddy's forcing him to do this so he can learn to be nicer."

"Hmph. I was wondering . . ."

"Yeah?"

"How is it that the boy can hear our words?" Twin asked. That Pidgey asked way too many questions.

"Well, his Granddaddy gave him a device called a pokedex that allows him to . . ."

Green tuned them out after that. He'd already got tired of hearing Ice yabber on about the whole thing the entire time they had been going down Route 29, and he didn't need Ice explaining it to Twin to bore it into his head any longer.

**oooo**

**-Night time-**

"And now it's raining."

"We know that."

"Just saying."

Green kept silent. Ice had taken to riding on his shoulder ("I'm tired." "Then go into your ball." "No."), and Twin was roosting on Green's head. Unfortunately, that meant their conversation was now impossible to tune out as they were right next to his ears.

"Yo, brat!" Ice called. Green winced.

"What now? And don't shout, I can hear perfectly fine." Green muttered.

"There's a house up ahead. Should we go in and see if we can crash for the night?" Ice asked.

"Oh? What happened to making your own decisions?" Green raised an eyebrow.

"I got bored of it. Do we go in or not?"

" . . . You are impossible." Green sighed. "But yes. We may as well, seeing as the light's on."

Green glanced around for any wild pokemon (they'd been jumped by a Weedle who had tried to poison Twin at some point) and then walked up to the front door of the house they'd found.

He glanced around again, in case it was a trap, and was rewarded with a smack to the face by Twin's wing.

"Hurry up, human." She said. "My feathers need tending to."

"Whatever." Green grumbled. He knocked on the door and stepped back slightly.

They waited.

And waited.

And waited again.

And then some more waiting happened.

Green almost gave up on the house, about to walk away, when the front door opened up to reveal a man with a black top hat and a nice looking suit.

"Hello, traveller!" The man smiled. "Are you lost?"

"Uh, not really." Green said. "We need somewhere to sleep for the night. Um, can we . . .?"

"In my house? Of course!" The man laughed pleasantly. Green smiled faintly, even thought he was a bit creeped out by the fact that he'd let complete strangers into the house.

Green walked in after thanking him, and glanced around. The house wasn't actually a house at all. It was just one big room with another smaller one at the back. There was a sofa and a TV to Green's right, and a filing cabinet with stones and stuff to his left.

"Well, we should get you dried up, yes?" The man asked. Green nodded slightly and let Ice and Twin down to explore.

"This is what a human nest looks like?" Twin raised a non-existent eyebrow. "This is not what I had expected."

"They're humans; you can't expect everything from them." Ice shrugged.

"Be nice, you two." Green snapped. "He's nice enough to let us stay, so don't insult the place."

"Hey, that's what you'd do."

"Wha- No I wouldn't!"

"You can understand them?" The man asked. He had pulled a large tub into the room and was grabbing a small hose from a sink.

"Um, yes." Green nodded.

"Ah, so you're Green Oak." The man smiled. "You must have been the one who has that special pokedex, yes?"

"Excuse me, but how do you know me?" Green asked. "Well, not like that, but know about me as in . . . well . . . what I'm doing here?"

"Elm is a close friend of mine." The man said. "He tells me a lot, mainly because I'm almost as good as he is with pokemon. I'm just not as smart as him, though, so I can't be a Professor."

"Wait, are you Mr Pokemon?" Green blinked. "Grandpa told me about you. The one who finds Eggs and stuff, right?"

"That's correct, although it isn't just Eggs I find." Mr Pokemon laughed.

"Well, yeah, but it's the main thing right?"

"That's also correct. In fact, Oak asked me to give one of my Eggs to you." Mr Pokemon said.

" . . . Ugh, that's what they were talking about then . . ." Green sighed.

"Hm, well maybe so, but if you have an Egg with you it might help with connecting to your-"

"I get it." Green snapped, exasperated. "It'll help in connecting me to my pokemon, blah blah blah, I've heard it too many times already."

"As long as you get it." Mr Pokemon smiled. He stopped running the hose and dipped a finger into the water. "Ah, nice and warm. Come on then."

"Wait, you want me to take a bath?" Green asked. "In here? And in that?"

"Yes." Mr Pokemon nodded. "This is how I do it, so you can as well. I don't actually have a bath tub, as you can clearly see, so I use this instead."

"W-well, that's uh . . ."

"Is there something wrong?" Mr Pokemon asked.

"Well, I just . . ." Green stammered. "Um, well . . ."

"You're embarrassed about your body?"

"S-sort of . . ."

"What's up?" Ice asked. "Got scars or something?"

"None of your business!" Green snapped at him.

"Now, now." Mr Pokemon scolded. "You mustn't be mean to them."

"Whatever . . ."

"Now then, if you're embarrassed about your body, then the pokemon and I will move into the other room until you're finished." Mr Pokemon said. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah." Green mumbled. "I-if you don't mind, that is . . ."

"I don't actually." Mr Pokemon smiled. "Most of the Eggs I keep are in the back anyway, and I still need to figure out which one is the most suitable for you. Come along . . . what are their names?"

"The Totodile is Ice, and the Pidgey is Twin." Green told him.

"Twin?"

"She's royalty apparently." Green shrugged. Mr Pokemon chuckled and took Green's pokemon into the other room.

Green sighed and glanced at the tub again. As long as they weren't watching, he could just take a bath and not worry.

**oooo**

**-In the other room-**

"I can't understand the two of you like Green can, but I expect you to respect his wishes and not to look while he does what he needs." Mr Pokemon said. "Do you understand?"

Ice and Twin nodded.

Mr Pokemon seemed satisfied with their answers and he walked off to another part of the room, where a bunch of Eggs were kept in incubators. Or at least, that's what Ice thought they were called.

"That man is strange." Twin sniffed. "And so is your Trainer."

"You mean our Trainer." Ice sighed. "Come on, let's go see why he didn't want us to look."

"Ice, the boy wished to have privacy." Twin frowned. "Even in my flock, we respected that. We did not intrude because we were curious."

"Yeah? Well, you're not in your flock anymore, buddy."

"My name is Twintera, you-"

"Uh-huh, whatever. Help me with the door, but don't push it too hard. We only want to look and not be seen or heard." Ice said.

Twin rolled her eyes, but she walked after him to the closed door. Ice nodded and she flew up to the handle, and pulled it down slightly. Ice pushed the door until he could see out of it without being seen himself, and gestured for Twin to come down as well.

"I still hate this, but do you see anything?" Twin asked.

"Heh, your own curiosity is winning over."

"I am merely-"

"Shush, he's undressing."

"The word for this would be pervert."

"I'm not into people, much less boys. Now shush!"

Green had taken off his purple turtle neck, but his back was still facing Ice. Ice frowned when he saw the slight tear in the boy's skin, but it looked like it was on his other side and not his back.

"Hmph." Twin sniffed. "He has no scars and he isn't drastically thin. There is nothing wrong with him, so stop with your-"

"Shut up! He's got a scar, I can see a bit of it!"

"Oh for the love of Arceus . . ."

Ice shushed her again. Green turned around to grab a towel that was conveniently next to the tub but still out of reach if one was in it. Ice froze when he saw the scar he'd seen a part of.

'Scar' wasn't the word for it, but it was the best Ice had. It stretched across Green's whole torso like a badly fitted bandage. The skin was dead, as if it would never grow back and wasn't going to actually scar over properly like it normally should have.

It looked as though someone had torn into Green's chest, then shredded his stomach, and then tried to put it all back together in a huge mess. Twin gasped beside him, but Green didn't hear her. Luckily Mr Pokemon didn't either.

"What the heck happened to him?" Ice murmured. "Looks like he's been . . . torn to pieces."

"Guillotine." Twin whispered.

"What? No one can live through one of those!" Ice hissed. "Not even a human!"

"Well, it seems we have living proof that a human can live through a Guillotine." Twin mumbled. "And that human happens to be your Trainer."

Ice didn't bother to correct her.

**oooo**

**-The next day-**

Green stood outside of Mr Pokemon's house, holding the Egg in his arms.

"Thanks for letting us stay." Green nodded slightly. "And for the bath as well."

"I could tell you needed it." Mr Pokemon smiled. "Where are you headed off to now, Green?"

"Violet city, if Ice was right." Green said. "Red and Blue should be there by now."

"Ah. You may want to challenge the Gym there as well." Mr Pokemon said. "But before that, you could go to Sprout Tower or the Pokemon School."

"Don't tell me, it's to help me connect again." Green sighed.

"Well, that and it could help your skills."

"Alright, we'll go to the Tower first then." Green nodded. "Thanks again for letting us stay, Mr Pokemon!"

"No problem, and good luck!" Mr Pokemon smiled.

Green waved slightly and started off. It took him a few steps to realise that Ice and Twin were still standing in the same spots as before.

"Come on, you two." Green called. "I wanna get there before night fall."

"Coming!" Ice called. Green watched him nudge Twin, and they set off again.

Off to Violet city, and hopefully their first Gym badge in Johto.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: This one is probably shorter than the other two, but it still gets the point across.

Red: What point is that?

Renny: Green has an unknown past and Twin is a frickin' royal Pidgey.

Green: That's not the point.

Renny: Then I dunno what it is.

Red: You're writing it!

Renny: That doesn't have to mean that I know what I'm doing.

Green: . . . Read, review and comment.


	4. Chapter 4- The school

Renny: Last time you all got to see a bit of pokemon POV! Isn't that cool?

Green: Renny, I don't think they care.

Renny: Bah, whatever. Ice told it last time, in case you didn't notice or something.

Red: Hey, when do we get to the whole Gym battle stuff?

Renny: Not yet. Probably next chapter or the next one after that.

Red: Aw . . .

Renny: If it makes you feel better, the you in the story gets his badges off-screen. Before Green does.

Red: I'm in front of him? Yay!

Green: Grr . . .

Renny: Disclaimer!

Green: . . . Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Route 31-**

"So, this place has two separate Routes, and you didn't tell me?"

"Well, not exactly. I did hint it." Ice said.

"Yes, but I'm not exactly very good at picking up hints, as you so kindly pointed out several times a couple of days ago." Green huffed. He brushed some of his hair out of his face, and glanced around at the small field.

He could see a cave not too far off, and it was starting to rain again. Green ignored Ice's answer to his pseudo-insult and walked towards it.

"Are you even listening!?"

"Nope."

He heard Ice mumble something, but again he ignored it. Twin was resting in her ball, so at least neither of them had to deal with the royal Pidgey complaining about the cave being dark or something. Plus he still sort of resented her for killing the nameless Spearow, even if he was sort of over it.

He was more shocked to find out that the death rate had increased dramatically for him, when he'd touched that dumb pokedex. Again, no one had told him, and Elm was either flat-out lying because he thought it would be a lot better for Green to not know, which would mean that Green would be really mad but still slightly thankful, or he had forgotten, in which case Green would kill him later on because really, who the heck forgets something as big as that?

"Hey, brat, what's in the cave?"

"I have no idea. I'm just going in, because unlike you, I'm not a water type." Green said.

"Humans are meant to have types, but they can't use the moves." Ice called. The rain was starting to pick up, so Green quickly ran into the cave and sat against the wall.

"Yeah, like I'm meant to know what my own type is." Green rolled his eyes. "I'll bet you no one does."

"The Kimono girls do." Ice said. He was leaning against the front part of the cave, smirking.

"Who?"

"The Kimono girls. They live in Ecruteak city." Ice said, nodding his head off in some random direction. Or, at least Green assumed it was random. Who knew what that Totodile knew?

"Well, that's nice and all, but how does that help?" Green snapped.

"They can tell your type just by looking at you." Ice sighed. "It's cool. I've seen a report once, one of them was being interviewed. The reported asked what his pokemon type was, and the Kimono girl said ground. No one's sure how they know, but they do."

"That's . . . kinda cool, I guess." Green shrugged. "Anyway, putting that conversation away for some other time, should we get a pokemon here?"

"Well, I've been thinking about that actually . . ." Ice started.

"Oh no."

"Shush, brat. Listen, how about you catch the first pokemon you see on the Route, town, city or cave?" Ice suggested.

"Right, and that helps how?" Green asked.

"Well, think about it. It doesn't give you any choice over your team mates, and it'll give you a chance to just train and get used to pokemon you wouldn't normally care about." Green faintly nodded, so the crocodile carried on. "And also, another rule for this thing, no duplicates."

"Duplicates? As in, no pokemon I've gotten before?"

"Exactly. That way you can't have the same pokemon twice, and you can catch different ones with different talents."

" . . . As long as I don't get a useless pokemon, that's fine with me." Green shrugged. "Now, can you please get inside? I'm not carrying you if you're wet."

"I'm a water pokemon." Ice laughed, walking in anyway. "It's in the description."

"I don't care." Green muttered.

"Geo."

"What now?" Ice sighed.

"I didn't say anything." Green blinked. He glanced around and saw nothing but a rock in front of him.

Wait.

"Is that a Geodude?" Green frowned.

"Ah, now that could be useful." Ice nodded. "The first Gym is flying, and if you wanna challenge the Gyms then getting a rock type might be good for the next three including this one."

"That might work, but what if the thing doesn't wanna come with us?" Green asked. "He's . . . just there. Maybe he wants food?"

"Hold out an empty pokeball and see what she does." Ice sighed, pinching where the bridge of his nose would be. "And here I thought you were an experienced Trainer."

"Oh shush, I'm not exactly used to this whole 'catch the first thing you see unless it's a dupe' thing you just made up." Green snapped. He grabbed an empty pokeball from his messenger bag, and slowly held it out to the Geodude.

"Gude?" The rock type probably would have titled its head had it been able to.

"Um, you wanna come with us, little guy?" Green asked.

"Wow, you really need to work on your socialising skills."

"Shut up, you!" Green barked. "I'm used to catching them through battles, not random things."

"Just throw the ball and talk to her."

The Geodude was probably nodding. Green rolled his eyes slightly at Ice, and bopped the rock/ground type on the head with the empty pokeball.

It didn't even shake once.

"That was fast." Green blinked. "Ok, let's see why you're here."

He let the Geodude out.

"Hello." The Geodude smiled. It took Green a second to realise 'he' was actually a 'she'.

"You're a girl?" Green gasped.

"You didn't notice?" Ice laughed.

"Well, yes. Geodude can be female, you know." The rock pokemon huffed.

"Didn't you mistake her voice for mine?" Green asked Ice.

"Well, you sound like a girl."

"I do not!"

"And you look like one. Seriously, cut your hair." Ice scoffed.

"I like it . . ." Green mumbled, tugging at said grey-brown locks.

"So do I." The Geodude smiled. "It's strange and looks almost like weathered rocks, like an old Geodude would be."

"Old Geodude are grey-brown?" Green frowned. "Well that's . . . an interesting bit of information."

"I'd have thought you humans would have known by now." The Geodude sighed. "But then again, I suppose your inability to understand us contributes to it."

"You seem smart for a Geodude." Ice raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"I was raised from an Egg by a Trainer, who then released me because he could no longer train pokemon." The Geodude said solemnly. "He was caught in an accident, around about four years ago maybe."

"Four years ago?" Green asked. "Where did this accident take place?"

"Kanto." The Geodude said. "I don't know where exactly. I'm willing to be caught by a Trainer who can help me so I can find my old one again."

Ice spared a short and knowing glance at Green, but the boy didn't ask why.

"Well . . . You chose me because I could understand Ice?" Green sighed. "There's a reason for that . . ."

Green explained about his Grandfather, and what Elm had said. He got to the part about the increased death rate, but the Geodude didn't seem that bothered.

"You don't care?" Ice asked, blinking rapidly. "You could die before you even find your old Trainer, and yet . . ."

"Well, at least I'll know I tried to find him, right?" The Geodude shrugged. Or Green guessed she shrugged. "It's better than just waiting for him to come and find me again. He won't recognise me, I'm grown up now."

"You're four years old." Green pointed out. "In human years, that's a toddler."

"In Geodude years, it's a young adult, around about fourteen." The Geodude said. "So I'm technically older than you."

" . . . Ice, how old are you?" Green asked.

"Five years."

"And that is . . .?"

"At least fifteen in your years."

Green sighed. "I'm catching and keeping pokemon who are older than me in their own years. This is so not fair . . ."

"Hey, at least you know how to tell how old a pokemon is in your own years." Geodude shrugged. Or she moved her arms. Or something. "All it is is plus ten and you have the pokemon's age in your years."

"Basically you pokemon live for a shorter time." Green hummed. "Well, this is gonna be an interesting discovery for Grandp- . . ."

"What's the matter, Trainer?" The Geodude asked.

"I'm . . . Ice, remember how I kinda . . . walked away from him?" Green asked. "You know, after he told me about the death rate thing?"

"Yes? Why?" Ice frowned. "Oh wait . . . You don't know if you can or want to talk to him."

"Yeah, that's right . . ." Green mumbled.

"You're scared of him?" The Geodude frowned. "Why?"

"Well, not exactly scared, just . . . mad at him." Green sighed. "He kept secrets from me. He lied."

"Technically he did it for your own good." Ice said.

"Yeah, but he lied! He said it was because you and the other two were that bad behaved Elm needed me and those two morons in to help out, but he only wanted me to go out and learn this whole 'connecting' stuff." Green snapped. "That's lying and keeping secrets, because he didn't tell me anything."

"Look at it from his perspective-"

"I don't care. I'm not talking to him unless he apologises for lying and stuff." Green huffed.

"That was a fast decision." The Geodude raised a rocky eyebrow.

"Yeah, I do that sometimes."

"If we weren't here, you'd be stuck in this cave," Ice laughed, "Just sitting there and wondering what to do. See what talking to pokemon does?"

"Yes, whatever." Green muttered. "Still don't mean I'm gonna try and 'connect' with the three of you."

"Three?" The Geodude asked. "There's only two pokemon."

"Oh, right." Green slapped his head, getting out Twin's ball. "Twin, come and meet the new member."

"A Geodude." Twin sighed, as soon as she was out. "Oh, yay."

"Is that sarcasm I detect?" Green asked.

"Yes. As you can see, I'm a flying type." Twin said.

"And as you can see, the Geodude is staying, no matter how uncomfortable she makes you." Green snapped. "So quit whining, you big wuss."

"Just simply looking out for myself." Twin said. "I am still not entirely on board with this Trainer business."

"Right, whatever. Twin, meet . . . what's your name?"

"Oh, my old Trainer never actually gave me one." The Geodude laughed.

"Does that mean I gotta come up with one myself?" Green groaned. "I hate naming stuff . . ."

"We can see that."

"Thank you, Ice."

"But I did give myself a name, if you want that one." The Geodude smiled. Green perked up.

"Let's hear it then." He said.

"I like to call myself Amethyst." The Geodude giggled. "I heard some Trainers before, but they always go for the Dunsparce because they're rarer than me, and some of them have Geodude by that name. I liked it."

"That's . . . cute." Green smiled slightly.

"Oh? Is that a little praise I hear?" Ice smirked. "Is Greenie warming up?"

"Wha- No!" Green cried. "I just like the name, that's all!"

Amethyst laughed happily.

"Thank you for having me, Trainer." She smiled.

"No problem." Green nodded. "Oh, and . . . While you're with us, just call me Green. It feels weird being called Trainer . . ."

"Green? That's a fitting name." Amethyst said. "And so is Ice, as well. Though I'm not sure about Twin . . ."

"My full name is Princess Twintera Gracious Heradon the third." Twin scoffed. "But these two unruly creatures cannot pronounce my name, so they have shortened it to Twin."

"A Princess?" Amethyst gasped. "Your Majesty, I didn't realise! I'm so sorry!"

"Well, at least someone here appreciates my royalty." Twin smirked. "Thank you, Amethyst. For a Geodude, you are not that bad."

"Thank you for the praise!" Amethyst was probably bowing, but no one could actually tell.

"Ok, enough with the whole royalty stuff." Green sighed. "Can we get going now? The rain's letting up and I still actually wanna get to Violet within the day."

"Oh, I can show you the way." Amethyst said. "I've been many times."

"Didn't you worry about the Bellsprout?" Ice asked.

"If I leave them alone, they leave me alone." Amethyst could have shaken her head at that point. "So we're fine if we don't provoke them or anything."

"That's one way of getting out of it." Green shrugged. "Thanks, Ame."

"Ame?"

"Short version of your name. Like a nickname." Green said. "Of course, you're still Amethyst, but still."

"I like it." The Geodude giggled.

**oooo**

**-Violet city-**

"Oh Mew, finally . . ."

"That was such a long walk."

"I thought you knew the way?"

"Well . . ."

"Clearly she did not, as we had to stop and ask directions several times."

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty! I just . . . forgot."

"Yeah, and we paid the price because you-"

"Green, shut up."

"You shut up! That Bellsprout didn't Vine Whip you!"

Ice grumbled something and carried on walking. Green rolled his eyes and looked around for the pokemon centre, which was bound to be nearby since he'd seen several Trainers around.

"Green, am I in trouble?" Amethyst asked.

"What?" He blinked. Green glanced down at the rock type, who was clinging onto his shoulder (she didn't have enough arm power to keep up with them). "No. We're just grumpy. Don't worry."

"You mean_ you're_ grump."

"Oh shut up, that thing opened up the cut you gave me." Green snapped.

"And? Pokemon get cuts and bruises all the time." Ice shrugged.

"Well, maybe I'm not a masochist." Green sighed.

"Kid, are you crazy or something?" A man asked. Green looked up, glaring.

"No." He growled. "Why're you asking?"

"You're talking to yourself." The man gulped, backing away slightly.

"I'm talking to them." Green gestured down at his pokemon.

"Them?" The man glanced down and then his eyes widened. "Oh, you're Green Oak, right?"

"Why does everyone ask me that?" Green sighed. "Yes, I'm Green Oak, get over it. Sheesh . . ."

"You're doing that thing with the pokemon and the whole talking thing, right?" The man asked.

" . . . Yes. How do you know this?" Green frowned.

"He's the pokemon school head-teacher." Ice said. "Oak told him about you."

"Yet another secret that old Fearow kept from me." Green muttered.

"I'm Kennedy Jeffen." The head-master smiled. His dark hair and eyes made him look kind but strict. "But most people just call me Mr Jeffen because-"

"You're head-master of the school." Green nodded. "Ice just told me."

"Ice? Ah, little Ice!" Mr Jeffen grinned suddenly, kneeling down to see Ice. "How are you?"

"I'm cool." Ice smiled.

"Even if I can't understand him, I know he's fine." Mr Jeffen laughed. He stood up after giving Ice a quick pat, and faced Green. "Well, then. Your Grandfather wanted me to put you into one of my classes."

"Oh, great." Green sighed.

"It won't be anything bad. Just for about three days. In your spare time you can go and meet those two kids, Red and Blue, in Sprout Tower." Mr Jeffen said. "Class starts right now, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait for it to be over so you can go and find them."

"Why would I wanna find those morons?" Green scoffed.

"Because Elm and your Granddaddy said to." Ice said.

"Fine, whatever." Green snapped, throwing his arms up. Mr Jeffen laughed again and led him to a building about the size of a pokemon centre, but wider, and with one floor.

"Welcome to the pokemon training school!" Mr Jeffen announced, throwing open the doors.

They came out into a hallway, with only three doors in it. Two were on the sides, directly opposite each other, and the other was at the back of the hallway.

"This is the school?" Green frowned. "I thought schools were meant to be bigger. And have offices and stuff."

"Well, this is only the teaching block." Mr Jeffen said. "The building behind us is for the teacher's offices, places for the students to hang out, and all that."

"Oh."

"Now then, before I get you into a class," Mr Jeffen said, "Which of your pokemon need healing?"

"Uh, these two." Green nodded to Twin and Amethyst.

"Alright. I'll take them to the pokemon centre after you're in class, alright? Keep Ice out if you want."

Green nodded and quickly returned his two pokemon before they (or just Twin) could start complaining about the ball being cramped or something. Mr Jeffen took the two pokeballs and then led Green into the classroom on the left.

"Hello, everyone!" Mr Jeffen called.

"Good morning Mr Jeffen!" The class called back. Most of them were Green's age, but a few were older. Nearly every single one of them was bigger though.

"Mr Jeffen, what brings you in so early?" The teacher, woman with blonde hair and dark eyes, smiled.

"I have that temporary student with me." Mr Jeffen said, gesturing to Green. "Come on, say hi."

"Uh . . ." Green blinked. He glanced around at the class and suddenly he felt smaller than what he actually was.

"Is he shy?" The woman teacher asked.

"He was fine a few seconds ago. Maybe it's talking in front of a lot of people." Mr Jeffen frowned.

"Brat, what's up?" Ice sighed, climbing onto Green's shoulder.

"They're . . . staring at me."

"And? What about in the league? People stared then."

"That was for a different reason." Green hissed.

"So you're not much of a public speaker, I take it?" Mr Jeffen asked. Green glanced up at him.

"Um, not . . . not really." He murmured.

"Hey, ain't that Green Oak?" A boy, probably a head taller than Green and most likely older, shouted.

"It is!" Another called.

"Why is he here? Is it because of what he did?"

'What he did'?

"What're they talking about?" Green asked.

"Ah, well, we all watched the pokemon league on TV for the whole of the school day." Mr Jeffen sighed. "Many of these kids watched you and Red battle, and a lot of them took what Red said to heart. They remember him as the good guy, and you as the cruel bad guy."

" . . . Oh." Green's shoulders slumped. "They're not gonna let me forget that, are they?"

"Not really. I'll be going now, be sure to include him as much as possible!" The last part was directed at the teacher and the class, and Mr Jeffen walked out.

As soon as he did, Green felt less confident about this whole thing than before.

"Hi." He said.

"What're you doing here?" The same kid who'd called him out snapped. "You don't even deserve a pokemon."

"Yeah!" A girl called. "Get out, you!"

Ice was saying something, but Green couldn't hear him. He didn't know why, but he took a seat at the back of the class and laid his head on the desk, ignoring everything that was said.

"Alright, class." The teacher called. "That's enough. You can ask him why he's a cold-hearted jerk in your own time."

Even the teacher was saying it. And Green thought teachers were meant to be nice. Then again, he'd never actually gone to school before. All his experience was either first-hand or taught from his old Master.

"For the benefit of Green, I'm Ms Fara." The teacher said. "Now then, today we'll be learning about status alignments."

"Shouldn't he be telling us?" Someone asked. Green could just see them pointing at him. "He's supposed to be a Trainer."

Trainer. Not good Trainer, just Trainer. Just how much did people hate him?

"It's better if you let me do it. He'll probably just tell you how to hurt others with them."

"Makes sense."

Again with this. He'd already had enough grief from Ice the first day he'd known him, and even after a day or two the Totodile was still occasionally mentioning his treatment of his previous pokemon. He couldn't do anything like that with the new ones because they spoke to him.

"Brat, you alright?" Ice whispered.

" . . . Yes."

"You don't sound like it."

"Why would you care?" Green muttered.

"I don't, just-"

"Then don't ask."

Ice went quiet. Ms Fara started talking about poison, and how it worked.

"Now then, poison is probably the worst out of the lot, so I'll start with this to get it into your heads." She said, tapping the board in front of her where the word 'poison' was underlined. "Poison is mainly for predatory pokemon. First, it causes the victim's body to shut down almost entirely, making it numb. While that happens, the lungs are constricted so that all left over energy is put into trying to breath. Again, the victim's body is completely numb and he or she is weakened severally, so this makes it easier for predatory pokemon to eat them."

Not a very pleasant start to a lesson, but at least she was warning them. Green had already had a first-hand encounter with poison once before. He wasn't happy to repeat it, and hoped to Mew that it wouldn't happen.

"Next, paralysis. It does the same as poison, although it doesn't stop the breathing. Basically, it just numbs the body so much that you can't move an inch."

Paralysis wasn't as bad, but it was still terrifying to know that you could be eaten and you wouldn't realise it until you were dead.

"Miss, can we see what it does?" A girl asked. "Maybe we could try it out on Green?"

"What!?" Green yelped. "Why?"

"Paralysis should be used as punishment." The girl smirked. "And you need punishment."

Green shrank down and looked away. The teacher made no move to help him.

"Carrying on," Ms Fara said, "The next is sleep. It forces the victim into a deep sleep, as the name implies greatly, and numbs the body again. This way the victim can't wake up, so whoever or whatever put them to sleep could do anything to the victim, and they wouldn't know it."

He'd had that once as well. Trying to train a Butterfree was nice and all, but he just happened to catch one that didn't want to listen. It had put him to sleep, and then it was gone by the time he'd woken up. Green never did see the thing ever again, so he crushed the ball so it wouldn't come back.

"Frozen is basically the same. You're put into a sleep, and get frozen. There's not much to say on that one, since the name speaks for itself." Ms Fara said. "Burning is the same as well."

"Is that all, Miss?" One kid asked.

"No, it's not. We're going to learn how the healing items can help stop these status conditions from hurting your pokemon badly." Ms Fara said.

Green knew it was coming.

"Green should probably listen to this part, since he doesn't bother healing pokemon." The teacher said.

And there it was. Ice said something again, but Green didn't hear him.

Honestly, this was all Red's fault. If it wasn't for that moron, Green would probably be living in peace and not going on a suicide mission with new pokemon that had death wishes. He certainly wouldn't be in a classroom full of kids who thought he was a complete jerk in need of 'punishment', and a teacher who wouldn't even try to stop her students from saying it, even going as far to do the same thing.

Not fair.

About an hour of jibes and words that reached deaf ears later, Green stood up and walked out with the rest of the class. Most of them shoved past him, smirking and chattering loudly about him again. A few of them let him go first and then tripped him up as he walked on.

Green was glad when he got outside. He quickly went to the other building, with the intent to find Mr Jeffen to get his pokemon back, and maybe get out of that class as well.

**OOOOOO**

Red: . . . You're running out of ideas to write.

Renny: I wanna get to the plot faster. Anyway, this is gonna be a shorter author's note, so . . .

Green: You are impossible.

Renny: Whatever. Read, review and comment!


	5. Chapter 5- First Battle

Renny: And here's the fifth chapter! Yay!

Green: The things you make me do . . .

Renny: At least I can enjoy this. Now shush up. Red, disclaimer!

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Mr Jeffen's office-**

Green had planned to burst into the room, startle the man, and demand to have his pokemon back and to drop out of the class-from-the-Distortion-World, as he put it.

His plans were completely wasted on all the thought out efforts of five seconds, when he discovered that Mr Jeffen wasn't even in the room. The only thing there was a note and Twin and Amethyst's pokeballs, with the two sleeping inside peacefully.

"What's the note say?" Ice asked.

"Read it yourself." Green snapped, sitting on the chair that didn't belong to Mr Jeffen.

"Ok. _'To whoever needs me, I am going to the Gym to visit someone. Mr Jeffen. P.S, if Green finds this, don't ask to get out of class. I put you in there because it was the nicest one out of the three.'_" Ice read.

Green growled. "Nicest? Yeah, right."

"I think he meant that they were less likely to kill you over what you did."

What did he even do? No one knew about the way he trained his team, other than Red, Blue and his Grandfather . . . his Grandfather who had an interview about the league . . . who also answered everything honestly . . .

Green was going to kill that old man, if his age didn't first.

"Yeah, and I'll say sorry if it'll shut them all up." Green huffed. "I couldn't care less what they say."

"Didn't seem like that when you were in there." Ice rolled his eyes, placing the paper back down.

"Yeah, well . . . shut up!"

"So very witty."

Green glared and turned away. He heard Ice fiddling with the buttons on the two pokeballs, and Twin and Amethyst were let out of their balls.

"I take it the first class has gone badly." Twin asked. Green didn't need to turn around to see her smirking at him.

"More than bad." Ice scoffed. "The entire class wants him dead."

"Not dead, just in pain." Green muttered.

"Same difference."

"But why?" Amethyst asked. "What did he do wrong?"

"The way he has treated his other pokemon, apparently." Twin huffed. "Ice has said that Green bullied his other team, and that he used to . . . what was it again?"

"Discard them if he didn't like them." Ice said. "Which is basically abuse."

"You . . . You abuse pokemon?" Amethyst gasped softly.

Green kept silent. Amethyst was the least likely to give him grief over it, but still. She wouldn't want to touch him if she hated him for it.

"Yeah, he does." Ice nodded. "In fact, if none of us were able to talk to him, he would probably do the exact same thing to us as well."

Green didn't know what Amethyst was thinking, but he guessed she was probably staring at him with a horrified expression. Unconsciously, his shoulders slumped and he curled into himself a bit more.

" . . . I don't think he's a bad person." Amethyst suddenly murmured.

Green looked back at her in shock, to find the Geodude smiling at him. Ice and Twin were equally shocked.

"I think he just had a bad experience with pokemon." Amethyst said. "And that effected his decisions later in life . . . and the way he treats his own pokemon."

"How are you sure?" Ice frowned. "I mean, he's a jerk and all, but-"

Twin interrupted him, giving him a meaningful glance that Green didn't want to understand. Probably another conversation about him again.

"I'm sure because he just . . . he looks sad." Amethyst smiled softly. Or as softly as a rock could get anyway.

"S-sad?" Green mumbled.

"Yeah, sad." The Geodude probably nodded, but no one could tell. "I can see it in your eyes. I've seen it before as well. You try to hide your emotions, but your eyes are the one thing you can't hide from us. They're sad, dulled even."

Ice was now looking into Green's eyes, humming thoughtfully. Twin was too busy staring at Amethyst to look as well. Green shifted.

"You are an observant creature, Geodude." Twin smiled slightly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Amethyst grinned.

"Ice, can you stop staring at me?" Green asked. "Please?" He squeaked, when the Totodile didn't comply.

"Huh? Oh, fine." Ice sighed. He looked at Amethyst. "I tried looking at him, but I can't see anything."

"Geodude are more sensitive to other's emotions." Twin said. "Although I hate to admit it, they are in fact the best at telling another's emotions."

"That's . . . kinda cool." Green nodded a little. "But . . . I-I'm not sad."

"Don't lie." Amethyst said softly. "It'll only make whatever's making you sad worse."

Green decided to change the subject quickly.

"Wait, how did we get into a conversation about my own emotions?" He asked. "According to the world's population, I have none."

"Don't listen to them, then." Amethyst told him. "They don't know what they're talking about."

"I still can't see anything in his eyes."

"Can you stop looking, Ice?" Green sighed. So much for changing it.

"Not until I find it."

Green rolled his eyes.

"How about we go to this 'Sprout Tower'?" Twin asked. "That male, Mr Jeffen, told us that it was a good place for training."

Thank Mew for Twin. For once Green was grateful for her being there.

"I thought you didn't want to?" Ice blinked.

"I may as well pull my own weight, if I am to be a part of this team." Twin sniffed. "Of course, if you do not wish for my services . . ."

"No, no, we're good with them." Green said.

"Good for you."

**oooo**

**-Sprout Tower, a few minutes later-**

"Well, this is . . . weird." Green commented.

The middle of the tower was moving like it was alive. It was unnerving and fascinating at the same time.

"This . . . is the dumbest decision I have ever made." Twin sighed. Ice and Amethyst were in their balls, mainly because most of the Trainer's had grass types. Or so Green had heard.

"Well, we may as well start going up." Green sighed. "Climbing this is gonna be hard . . ."

"I have wings, so I do not need to complain like you."

Green grumbled and started for the stairs, which a bald-headed monk guy was guarding. He wasn't doing much of a good job, seeing as he was asleep.

The two made their way to the second floor, which was devoid of any life. Green frowned.

"Didn't the guy out front say these monks were everywhere?" He murmured.

"He did, but he may have been lying. He knew you by name, after all." Twin said.

"Apparently everyone here knows me . . ." Green scoffed. "And not one of them likes me. It's getting old, fast."

"Well, maybe you should have thought about your social standing before becoming an abusive creature." Twin pointed out.

"What social standing?" Green snapped. "The only reason people know me is because of Grandpa. If it weren't for him, I'd be the 'guy who Red beat easily' or maybe even 'that one guy no one knows but sees'."

"That should not be true." Twin shook her head as Green started up to the third floor. She followed him.

"Well guess what? It is!" Green snapped. "Because all I hear, everywhere I go, is 'Green did this', 'Green did that', 'Green's a bad guy', 'Green's a complete heartless jerk', blah blah blah!"

They found the fourth staircase easily, it was right next to the wall, and went up.

"In all honesty, those humans may have been right." Twin said.

"Yeah? Well, they could be right in a nicer fashion!" Green snapped. "Maybe if they were nice, I'd be nice as well! But they're not, so it's their own fault!"

"Green?"

"What now!?" Green yelled. He jerked back slightly at who called him.

"Are you ok?" Red asked, frowning. "You look a bit . . ."

"Upset." Blue finished. "Very, actually."

" . . . Yeah, I'm not happy." Green hissed. "Since when am I ever? And why'd we even come here!?"

"You wanted to. At first, anyway." Twin said. Green glared at her. She shut up for once.

"What's the matter?" Red asked again. Green saw an old man behind him, but it wasn't Oak.

"Ah, now who's this young man?" The old man smiled.

"Go away." Green snapped.

"Now, now, no need to be like that." The old man chuckled. "Perhaps some tea would soothe your anger?"

"What anger? I'm fine!" Green cried. "See? Fine!"

"Child, calm yourself." The old man said. Green, reminded of his old Master, silenced himself quickly. "Good. Now then, sit down with your friends-"

"They're not my friends."

"-And wait for a while, alright?"

Green huffed, but he sat down on one of the remaining cushions. There seemed to be about four of them, the largest one where the old man had been just. Red and Blue sat down on one as well, only theirs were smaller.

"Green, come on . . ." Red tried again. Green ignored him.

"I don't think he's listening." Blue huffed. "As usual."

Green unconsciously clenched his fists. The old man came back with two cups of steaming tea in his hands, and handed one to Green and the other to Red. He walked away again.

"Who is that?" Green asked quietly. Hardly anyone was able to shut him up, and Green was proud of that. This guy was like his old Master, no doubt about it.

"Stop changing the subject." Red sighed.

"That was the Elder." Blue told him, punching Red on the shoulder. "He's the leader of this place. So don't be your usual self and insult him just because you're you."

"I'm not gonna insult him." Green murmured. He sloshed the tea around, but not enough so it would spill.

"You would, if he didn't shut you up." Red huffed.

Green sort of shrank. Twin was rolling her eyes again, but unlike Ice back in the classroom she didn't try to help him.

"No, no . . ." The Elder came back in with a couple more cups of tea. He handed one to Blue and sat. "If he insults me, then he is able to think for himself and form opinions."

"Him?" Red laughed. "Yeah, right. If he had a brain he'd be deadly."

"I'm smarter than you!" Green snapped. A part of him knew it was childish to even word his response like that.

"See? He can't come up with better retorts."

And that part was now smug.

"I can come up with them." Green huffed. "I just chose not to. You're not worth it."

"Oh, really? Then say something worth insulting me." Red challenged.

Green frowned, and looked at him. The emerald eyed boy searched red for anything he could point out that was dumb, and turn it into an intelligent insult. The 'brain' thing Red had said stung, so Green wanted revenge.

" . . . You're stupid enough to wear a T-shirt in Autumn." Green said.

"I'm wearing a dress." Blue pointed out. "And plus, in Johto, it's mild. You're the one who's an idiot for wearing a long-sleeved jumper, and boots."

Green hissed quietly, looking back at the tea in his hands. It seemed meaningless now. Why did the Elder give it to him?

"Now, now." The Elder chuckled. "No need to chastise your peer. A better way to settle this . . . argument, would be to have a pokemon battle. That is what you young people do, yes?"

"Most of the time." Red said, still staring at Green. Green wanted to wipe that smug look off his face.

"Well, battle." The Elder said.

"I'll do it." Red said, standing up. "Blue, you wanna go next time we find him?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Green growled under his breath and stood as well, placing the cup down. Red walked over to the opposite side of the room, and Green walked over to the nearest wall. Twin flew onto his shoulder.

"Green, you know that if you send in Ice, or myself, we will not listen." She murmured.

"I know. That's why I'm sending in Amethyst." Green said.

"She is weak!" Twin exclaimed. "You cannot send in a pokemon who has not yet had proper training for-"

"You killed Spearow. She wasn't trained."

Twin stopped talking.

"You can go first, Green!" Red called out. Green narrowed his eyes. That was a battle tactic, letting your opponent go first so you could get an advantage.

But surely Red hadn't caught and trained a Bellsprout? Not in the time given, anyway. It took ages to train one.

Green took out Amethyst's ball, and let her into the 'field'.

"Are we battling?" The rock/ground type asked, as soon as she saw Red taking out his own ball.

"Yes." Twin sighed. "Amethyst, be careful. If Green gives you an order you do not wish to do, or deem completely moronic, do not do it."

" . . . Yes, Your Majesty." Amethyst murmured, glanced back at Green.

Red smirked. "Hope you're ready, Green."

"I was born ready."

Red laughed quietly, and threw out his pokemon. A Wooper. No doubt Red had trained it already, but it was possibly the worst combination that he was going to face with Amethyst so far.

"Gonna back down?" Red asked. "I can understand why. With that increased death rate, and the fact that your pokemon can talk to you, this must be harder. Have you battled with them yet, even a wild one?"

Amethyst couldn't match up to it. Green took out his pokedex, and saw the Wooper was level twelve already, while Amethyst was just barely above level six. She wouldn't win. And the chance of her dying because of Green forcing her to fight a battle which she couldn't win, was too great.

Green half-expected Red to carry on gloating. But Red didn't. His stance drew out of the arrogant and confident demeanour, and changed into a more . . . concerned one.

"Green?"

Green could try using Ice or Twin, but she'd already said neither would fight for him. But if Green made some sort of temporary deal with them . . .

"Twin." Green muttered.

" . . . Get me some of that birdseed that those other Trainers scatter around for my flock, and I will fight for you." Twin sighed.

"Now?"

"No. After the battle. Assuming I win, or live." Twin said. "I am only level nine. This does not mean I can perform a miracle."

"I'm just hoping you can take it. Ame can't even take one hit from it." Green sighed.

He glanced up at Red, who was waiting for a response.

"Ame, come back." Green called. Both Red and Blue's eyebrows shot up at that. They probably didn't even think he'd take Amethyst's live into consideration, more interested in pride. Green gritted his teeth.

"Ok." Amethyst murmured. She used her arms to get back over to Green, who quickly put her back in. Green nodded to Twin, who rolled her eyes and flew out in front of the Wooper.

"So, you're not using the Geodude?" Red asked. "Smart. Two on two, not counting the Geodude!"

"Fine by me." Green nodded.

"Oopah?" The water/ground asked.

"Not likely . . . Green?" Twin looked back.

"Gust." Green said.

Twin nodded. That was probably the best choice right now. Getting in close meant that Wooper could get in a point-blank Water Gun. He didn't know if it knew anything else.

Twin flew into the air with one beat of her large wings. Then she started up a small whirlwind, and directed it towards Wooper, who looked back at Red for instructions.

"Woop, Water Gun!" Red shouted. Woop, as it was cleverly nicknamed, garbled something Green didn't understand. It wasn't his pokemon.

As soon as the Gust approached Woop, it shot a Water Gun straight into it. The water got caught in the Gust attack, and spun around until it went back out. Straight into Twin's face.

The Pidgey cawed, and shot to the ground, huffing. She'd trained without Green giving orders, along with Ice, because both didn't want him forcing them to do what he wanted. Now she didn't have a choice.

Green quickly checked her HP. Woop had taken down at least half of it. One more hit would send her into her last bit, and Green didn't want to take a chance that she would get hit with an accidental Critical Hit.

"Twin, come here." Green called. Twin flew to him, and he got out a Potion from his bag.

Green sprayed it over her, and she went back in. Red looked a bit like he was going to start laughing. He most likely found it funny that Green even cared enough to do that.

"Water Gun, again!" Red shouted.

"Quick Attack!"

Twin hit Woop first. The attack sent the blue pokemon sprawling on the ground, but it managed to get back up and fire off another Water Gun into her face.

One more hit for Twin, and Green would win. Trouble was, the Wooper was smarter than it looked. If Green ordered a Tackle or a Gust, it would find a way to counteract and hit Twin before she got the chance to.

Quick Attack was able to hit first. Twin had amazing accuracy. She wouldn't miss. Twin would win, and Red would send out his next pokemon. As far as Green could tell, Woop and Quil, Red's Cyndaquil, were the only ones he had.

"Woop, Tail Whip!" Red called.

Green frowned. What was he playing at? Tail Whip lowered Twin's defence- something which Woop couldn't use since his attacks were only Special. But since Green could use the lost turn to attack . . .

"Tackle!" Green shouted. Twin, sighing, nodded.

The bird shot forward, with surprising speed for someone weakened by the water, and aimed straight for the Wooper who was her opponent.

Red smirked. Too late Green saw it as a trap.

"No, wait!" Green yelled. Twin paused instantly, but she was too close.

"Water Gun!" Red shouted. Woop gave a small shout of its own, and shot Twin down.

Green glanced at the HP. It read zero. He looked up at the battle again. Twin lay unmoving on the floor. He couldn't move. The only thing he could think of was Spearow.

And then Twin shakily got back up, and coughed up some water.

"This is humiliating . . ." She said.

"You're . . . not dead?" Green whispered. Twin glanced back at him.

"That death rate was to forty percent, yes?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah . . ."

"Forty percent isn't one hundred. I will not die from every battle I lose." Twin murmured. She wobbled a little when she got up, but managed to stagger over to Green.

He crouched down and gave her an Oran Berry he'd found earlier that day.

"Don't do that . . ." He muttered.

"I was not aware you cared." Twin said, after gulping down the last of the berry.

"I care enough to not let you die. Now rest up." He sighed. Twin returned to her ball without any complaints, and Green stood up again.

"Starter versus starter." Red smiled. "Just like the last round of the league. Which I won."

"Stop being so smug." Green snapped. He brought out Ice's ball, and murmured to the pokemon inside. "Listen to me, just this once . . ."

Red returned Woop, and sent in his Cyndaquil. The flames burst off of his back, and the fire type wore the same smirk that Red did. Green threw in Ice.

"Cynd." Quil giggled. Ice rolled his eyes.

"I'll take first go this time." Red said. It was only fair, but in the back of his head Green knew it was a trap to get him to attack faster, and from up close.

Red glanced at Quil, and nodded. No order? Or was this some sort of plan they'd formed?

Typical.

"Quil!" The fire type yelled. His flamed grew bigger, and he started spinning.

Fire Spin? No, Cyndaquil couldn't learn that yet. Then what? A quick look at the pokedex showed that Quil was one level higher than Woop.

One level away from evolving. If Quil won this, then he would probably evolve. So Green had to make sure he didn't win.

"Water Gun!" Green yelled. Ice looked back at him, glaring. "Oh, not now!"

"Give me one good reason." Ice snapped, turning to face him. Quil was still spinning. Maybe a combination of Ember and Quick Attack?

"Do you want to lose?" Green snapped back.

"To humiliate you? Yeah." Ice nodded. He crossed his arms. "Like I said, if you don't start showing us some respect, I won't listen."

"But . . . Why are you doing this _now_?" Green cried. "At least do it when we're fighting wild pokemon, but not Trainers!"

"You can't prove that you're competent enough to be my Trainer." Ice said. "So I'm not fighting for you. Twin only agreed because you'd give her food."

"Is that what you want?" Green sighed. "Fine, you can have the food, just battle him!"

"I don't want food."

"Then what do you want?"

By now, Quil had stopped spinning, and was now watching Green argue with Ice, as were Red, Blue and the Elder. A tiny, tiny part of Green wished they weren't. It was pushed away the second he thought about it.

"I want you to show me that you can be a friend." Ice said coldly. "That you can connect with pokemon on levels that others can only imagine. I want you to show me that you can treat us with respect, but until then? I'm not fighting for you. Ever."

Ice returned himself into his own ball. Green just stared at the floor blankly.

"Green? You ok?" Blue asked. Green glanced at them, one at a time. Red was unreadable, Blue was frowning, and the Elder . . .

He was staring at Green with a look the boy hated more than anything.

Disappointment.

Green took a small step back. Red and Blue made as if to move as well. The boy froze.

"Leave me alone." Green whispered. He bolted for the steps, and was partially glad when they didn't follow.

He didn't know how long he ran for. He didn't remember how he got to where he'd ran to. All Green knew was that he'd somehow ended up in a small clearing, in the forest that was nearby Violet city.

He stood in the clearing, looking at nothing. He could have let out Twin, but she was tired and wouldn't offer any comfort even if she was able to help. Amethyst probably hated him for trying to send her out against a Wooper twice her level. Ice already made his own feelings known.

Green sank down to the ground. No one was here. No one could see him.

Green didn't know why it hurt him so much, what Ice had said. Or maybe it wasn't Ice.

The look on the Elder's face. Disappointment. Obviously the old man was expecting Green to at least be able to make a plan with his pokemon, even if they didn't listen, but he'd been wrong. And the Elder didn't like it.

Suddenly it made sense for Green.

His whole power trip, wanting to be better, wanting to be seen as someone who could fight, wanting to be himself. It was because he was scared that if he didn't fight, if he didn't follow the path he'd been handed, everyone would be disappointed in him.

Practically all his life he'd been expected to battle and to be smart, among many other things. People expected him to be like his sister, or Grandfather.

But he wasn't. He wasn't that good at battling, so he covered that up by choosing the strongest pokemon he could find. He wasn't smart, he could barely read or count and half the words that came out of his Grandfather's and sister's mouths was complete gibberish to him. He certainly wasn't compassionate like his sister, either.

So maybe that was why he was scared of people being disappointed in him? But the way the Elder had looked- it only made it worse.

Green sighed, and buried his face in his knees. If he wasn't any good at commanding pokemon who could talk, what good was he?

**OOOOOO**

Renny: To the people who reviewed- Yes, this is like Green's Nuzlocke! I kinda wanted to record at least one or two, since I'm doing like . . . seven.

Green: Weirdo. What about the battle?

Renny: I kinda wanted to make the battle with Ice a bit longer, but then I realised it would be better if he flat-out refused to battle for Green.

Green: So naturally you make me seem all broken and stuff.

Renny: This is about you, so why not?

Green: All the stories you do are about me! Why not Red, or Blue?

Renny: It's difficult to write Blue's character as she is in the manga, so I have to give her a funny and mischievous big sister role for every fanfic I write with her in it. And I can't really see Red as the type to have been raised badly . . . You, on the other hand . . .

Green: I will hurt you.

Renny: 'K. Read, review and comment!


	6. Chapter 6- Hatchling

Renny: And now you all get to see Green break down after a few months (days in this case) of people hating him, and his pokemon not listening half the time.

Green: I hate you.

Renny: I know.

Red: Whose turn for the disclaimer?

Renny: Green.

Green: . . . Renny doesn't own pokemon. Oh, and this chainsaw belongs to her. I just stole it to kill her.

Renny: 0.0

Green: What?

Renny: Right . . . On with the show- PUT THAT DOWN!

**OOOOOO**

**-Somewhere in Violet city, forest-y type place-**

Green didn't know how long he sat there. Minutes, hours, a day or two . . . All he knew was that it was a long time, and no one had found him.

Good.

If someone had known him over the past two or three days, they would probably say that he was being a wuss because it had only been that long. But the truth is the torment and what people said about him had been going on for longer.

It started about a week after the pokemon league. He was attempting to battle Red, but Blue was getting in the way and both were ignoring him to be mean. As usual. He could take that, because it was a joke. At least he thought it was, at the time.

But after a few minutes, a man, in his twenties Green guessed, came up and started rattling on about how important the respect and love of pokemon is. It took Green a minute or two to figure out that the man was speaking to him only.

And it just kicked off from there. Nearly every week, someone would walk up to him and start ranting about how he treated his pokemon.

Normally Green ignored them. Until a boy, a bit older than Green, started insulting him as well. Calling him heartless and such. Green snapped and attacked the boy, and then when they were separated, the boy said _Green_ started the fight.

Technically that was right, but Green had been provoked into it. No one believed him, not even Red and Blue, so he was taken away and put into an overnight jail thing (he never understood what it was) in Pallet town, and in the morning Daisy (his older sister) came to get him. She wasn't happy, but at least she listened to Green when he started telling her exactly what happened.

Too bad she didn't believe him either.

After that incident, everyone started doing it. A few people had recorded the battle on tape or something, and watched it again to see if there was anything wrong with the way he fought or something, and of course they saw flaws in the way he made his pokemon fight when they were tired.

At least he returned Machamp when it was on the ground instead of forcing it up, like he would have done a few months prior. Of course, no one bothered with that and only went for the bad parts, like when he tried to get his pokemon to attack Red himself, etc.

And so the insults and lectures began. Red and Blue joined in occasionally as well, which was even worse seeing as he saw them every day. At some point, his Grandfather got word of everything the people were saying, even those in different towns and cities, and said he would revoke Green's Trainer license if he didn't change. He made Green re-register the license as well. It was done verbally for some reason, but Green didn't give it much thought because he just wanted to keep his license.

And then he was told he had to go and get new pokemon a few months later. Green had known something was up when his Grandfather asked to talk to Red and Blue, and not him, but at the time he didn't care because he was too angry to bother with them.

And then everything that happened over the last days, happened. And now here Green sat, trying to get rid of the words he'd heard, and everything Elm had said.

Ice kept on about him being a bad Trainer. There was no denying that, Green was probably the worst one out there. But at least he cared-

No. He _didn't_ care though, did he? According to Ice and everyone in the world, the best option for Green was to take away his Trainer license. Even after all he'd done for Kanto, taking down Team Rocket and such, everyone still hated him.

Maybe if he'd been nicer to his pokemon, none of this would have happened. But then again, was it really his fault that he wasn't a generally nice person?

No, it wasn't. It was people being mean to him. His old Master had taught him to face fear with an unblinking eye, and somehow Green had twisted that and made it into something different. Again, not Green's fault. His mind was weird and even Green couldn't understand how it worked sometimes.

Sometimes he wished he was someone else. That way he wouldn't have to hear everything people thought about him, and he wouldn't be a disgrace on his own family name. As if he even wanted it.

Green sighed, and pulled his legs closer to himself. They'd gone numb from not being used for so long, and staying in the same place. His limbs tended to do that.

Maybe if he stood and walked around a bit, the numbness would go away? But then again, he probably wouldn't be able to walk straight, and if the numbness went away it would be replaced with pins and needles, and those were painful when you were trying to walk. Especially in both legs.

Green glanced around and saw a tree branch hanging down behind him. He grabbed it, and pulled himself up, almost collapsing. Luckily the branch held his weight, which admittedly wasn't much, and he could sort of stand.

The numbness would take a bit of walking around to get rid of, but he couldn't walk with both numb. So Green clung onto the branch and tried to take a step, and nearly fell over again.

Stupid.

Green gritted his teeth, determined to at least get a small step before he gave up. He took another step, and was slightly relieved when he didn't fall over. But feeling was returning to his legs, and that meant that the pins and needles would come as well.

He moved his legs around, feeling slightly silly and a bit unnerved because he couldn't feel them that much, and started to actually get an ache in them. An ache! He wasn't numb anymore, which was a start.

And all at once, feeling returned to his legs. Green was relieved for about five seconds, before the pins and needles kicked in, and he yelped.

Normally one would be happy that pins and needles had kicked in. Not Green, because of how much it hurt when you tried to walk. Of course, if he was paralysed, he probably would be glad for pins and needles, but in this case he wasn't.

His messenger bag was on the floor next to him. Green, gasping slightly when he tried to move again, fell onto the floor next to it. He ignored the pain in his legs, and started going through the bag, checking on stuff inside to give him something to do to distract himself.

The Egg. The one Mr Pokemon had given him. That man said it would help Green, but so far it's done nothing for the boy. Green narrowed his eyes at it, tensing up when a slight movement of his lower body cause more pain.

The pins and needles were going away now. Slowly, anyway. Green could move them without feeling like he was going to die or something. He moved his legs so that they were in a sitting position, and placed the Egg on his lap, glad to at least have regained feeling so he could look at the thing without pretending it wasn't there.

The pins and needles were gone now, and he sighed in relief. Green nearly smiled, before remembering the reason he'd gotten numb legs in the first place, and the reason why he'd come here.

Unconsciously his hands clutched at the Egg harder, but not enough to break it. It was pulled slightly closer to his body, or his stomach more like, but it didn't cause a burning like something touching his stomach normally would.

Green frowned. Normally anything that even touched his stomach, besides clothes because they were soft, would hurt him. Not enough to make him notice right away, but enough so that he could move away from whatever was touching him.

Green began to notice tiny little cracks on the Egg's surface. He wondered if he had accidently broken it, without knowing, but then the Egg started shaking. Green would have let the Egg go so it would hatch without him near it, but something made him want to hold it until it did hatch.

The top of the Egg started moving a bit more, and then it popped off all in one to reveal and small head with spikes on the top, the whole thing cream-coloured, and the eyes small and innocent. Then a couple of stubby arms poked through the sides of the Egg, and two stubby legs made themselves known at the bottom.

Green had no idea what sort of pokemon this thing was. But it was cute, he couldn't deny that much.

"H-hi there . . ." Green mumbled. The little pokemon blinked at him, and suddenly smiled widely.

"Ma-ma!" It cried. From the sound of its voice, no matter how tiny and squeaky, it was male.

"M-Mama?" Green pointed to himself in shock. The tiny thing nodded and toppled forward, snuggling into his chest. Again, it should have at least caused a sort of pain by now, but the tiny pokemon touching him didn't hurt him at all.

"Ma-ma!" The pokemon giggled. "Ma-ma he-ah!"

Green sort of guessed that meant 'Mama's here' or something.

"I-I'm not your Mama . . ." Green told him. Then something occurred to him.

He could only understand the pokemon that he catches. If he could understand the baby pokemon . . .

"How did you get registered to me so fast?" Green frowned. "I haven't even caught you . . ."

"Cau-t!" The baby giggled. He wiggled around again, and cuddled Green's shirt.

"Hey, stop it; I'm not your Mom." Green said.

"Ma-ma!" The pokemon cried. "I luv oo!"

Well, this was going nowhere fast.

"Alright, alright." Green sighed. "I'd better try and find Mr Pokemon or something, see if anyone knows what you are . . ."

He didn't even know why he was talking to the baby pokemon, but if the tiny thing couldn't talk back very well, then he was going to do so. Besides, the cream-coloured Egg thing loved him apparently.

And he was not female, so Green had no idea why he was calling him 'Mama' for. Then again, according to Ice, he looked like a girl so maybe that was why. Still.

Green grabbed the strap of his bag, and slung it over his shoulder. The baby pokemon giggled when he was picked up, and Green stood, wondering what exactly he could do with the tiny thing that wouldn't hurt him or suffocate him much. In the end, he resorted to just holding him.

Green decided to get out an empty pokeball first. If the baby was registered to him from birth, he may as well catch it anyway. But when he tried tapping the baby pokemon with the ball, it didn't work.

Green frowned. That was strange. Certainly the baby couldn't have already gotten one, since Green only had three pokeballs on his belt, and the others were spares for when he caught new pokemon.

The boy decided to go to the pokemon centre first, to ask the Nurse in case she knew what the baby was. If she didn't, he would call Elm, and if he didn't know then he'd go back to Mr Pokemon to ask.

And if he didn't know? Green would probably just give the baby a name until he figured out what he was exactly.

"Ok, little one, hold on." Green murmured.

"Ma-ma!" The baby giggled happily.

Green rolled his eyes, and started off. He somehow remembered how he'd gotten here, despite not actually knowing where he'd gone earlier. Once he was back near Sprout Tower, Green found his way to the pokemon centre.

He went inside, and saw Red and Blue talking in a corner. He ignored them and walked to the Nurse, dodging around a large Onix that was trying to dance with its Trainer for some reason.

"Excuse me." Green called out. The Nurse looked up from her work, and smiled.

"Yes?" She asked. "Do your pokemon need healing?"

"Uh, well . . ." Twin needed healing. He'd forgotten about her. "Yeah."

He handed over his pokeballs, and then placed the baby onto the desk after the Nurse had put them onto the healing machine behind her.

"Oh? And who's this?" The Nurse smiled, crouching down to get a look at the baby.

"I actually have no idea." Green said. "I was kinda hoping you'd know what he is."

"Oh, I do know what this pokemon is, yes." The Nurse laughed.

"You do? What is he?" Green asked.

"This little one is a pokemon called Togepi." The Nurse explained. "Here, I think I have a little article from a newspaper about it . . . Here you go."

Green glanced at the clipping. It barely held any pictures, but a lot of words.

"Wow . . ." He murmured. "Um, mind if I take this and read it? I'll stay here, I promise. And I'll give it back when I'm done."

"That's alright." The Nurse nodded. "Oh, your pokemon will be done healing in a few minutes, so that works out fine as well."

Green nodded and took the baby Togepi and the newspaper clipping away. He thanked the Nurse before walking off over to one of the sofas, and settled down.

The Togepi gurgled something Green couldn't understand, and crawled onto his lap, curling up and going to sleep. Green smiled a little, and patted him on the head gently, and looked at the clipping.

The words were small, so it was difficult to read them. Half of the words Green didn't even know the meaning of, and he had trouble with reading a few of them because he'd never heard of them before. Simple ones were what he understood really.

By the time he managed to get to the end of the clipping, Green had read what he thought was a tiny amount of it.

From what he actually could read, Togepi was a special pokemon whose Eggs appeared every once in a while, and no one knew where they came from. Some people found them, and apparently they were meant to be given away when their hatching time came close, because the Togepi would die if not for that.

A bit weird, but it explained why Mr Pokemon gave Green the Togepi Egg.

Apparently a few Togepi possessed psychic powers as well. Not very many, a tiny fraction of the small amount of Togepi in the world (which wasn't many according to the clipping) had them. Most called this power Extrasensory. It was useful for an attack move (Special of course) and also useful for a second eye, so to speak.

That was all Green could understand before the clipping got too detailed, and he gave up trying to decipher whatever the heck that meant, or what that even said, or how it was said, etc.

"Looks like you're a mystery all over." Green mumbled to the sleeping Togepi baby. "Wonder what I should call you . . ."

The baby Togepi turned towards his hand as Green petted him, but didn't wake up.

"Deep sleeper, huh?" He smiled lightly. "Cute."

Careful not to wake the baby pokemon, Green stood with him in his free arm, and walked back over to the Nurse.

"Oh, isn't that adorable." She cooed as soon as he came over. Green gave a small laughed, and placed the clipping on the table.

"I couldn't read most of it, but I know a bit more now. Thanks." Green nodded.

"No big deal." The Nurse smiled, looking up from the baby Togepi. "Your pokemon are healed, by the way."

"Thank you." Green said. The Nurse gave him the three pokeballs and he clipped them back onto his belt, and then glanced over at the video phones.

"You want to use one?" The Nurse glanced over as well. "They're free to use, go ahead."

Green nodded again and walked over to one, being careful not to wake the baby Togepi by accident. He didn't know what he'd do if he started crying loudly or something.

Green sat on the stool in front of the computer screen, and typed in a name with his free hand, which wasn't easy since he only had one.

_Now calling: Professor Elm_

The screen went white for a second, before it cut to a man with glasses and a lab coat.

"_Green!" _Elm cried. _"Why are you calling?"_

"Keep it down." Green said, nodding to the baby Togepi. "He's the reason I'm calling."

"_Do you know what he is?" _Elm gasped. Green didn't like the happy look he had.

"A Togepi, yeah. The Nurse told me." Green said. "Why're you so happy?"

"_That's a baby Togepi, Green!" _Elm laughed quietly, but happily. _"Those pokemon are incredibly rare and no one knows where the Eggs come from!"_

He totally ignored what Green said.

"I got this one from Mr Pokemon." Green said. "So . . ."

"_Then he may have picked it up off the ground or something." _Elm sighed. _I guess we'll never know."_

"Anyway, I already know stuff about Togepi, but I kinda need to ask about Eggs really . . ."

"_Ask away. I'm the expert on those, next to Mr Pokemon of course."_

"Well . . ." Green explained what had happened earlier with the pokeball, and how he could already sort of understand the Togepi.

"_Hmm . . ." _Elm murmured.

"Anything?" Green asked.

"_I've heard of this happening before, but it's rare." _Elm said.

"What is?"

"_The Egg being registered before you catch the pokemon. Sometimes that happens." _Elm said. _"This doesn't mean he's wild or anything, but the problem can be solved by getting a pokeball from Kurt." _

"Kurt?"

"_The pokeball creator." _Elm nodded. _"He was, and still is, the best pokeball maker there is in the world. In fact he's the only human one, since machines do most of the work."_

"The ones in Kalos, right?"

"_Exactly. Now, I have heard of this happening before, a pokemon being registered or being unable to catch after it's hatched. And for someone to catch said pokemon, you need one of Kurt's pokeballs." _Elm said.

"Why? What's so special about them?" Green tilted his head slightly.

"_Kurt is the best pokeball maker, as I've said before. The craftsmanship that goes into his pokeballs is so fine and perfect, that anything can be caught with them. Even hatched pokemon." _Elm smiled. _"So I suggest that after you get the Gym badge in Violet city, go to Azalea town and find him. That works fine as well, since there's also a Gym there."_

"Alright then." Green still didn't understand why or how Kurt's pokeballs would help, but if it meant he wouldn't have to carry baby Togepi around, he didn't complain.

"_See you."_

The screen went blank before Green could utter a word.

**oooo**

**-Night, Green's temporary pokemon centre room-**

Green yawned and looked up from his pokedex. The baby Togepi was tottering around, touching and squealing at everything in sight still.

If he hadn't hatched from the Egg, sort of, Green probably would have told him to stop. But he was only a day old, so Green let him be.

Tomorrow he'd be going back to the Trainer's school. Green was dreading it, but at least the baby Togepi would be with him. So he was fine, so long as someone doesn't take baby Togepi away from him.

"Wha' tha'?" Baby Togepi asked.

Green stopped spacing out and looked over at baby Togepi. He was staring up at the clock on the wall, with a look of awe on his face.

"Uh, it's a clock." Green said. "It tells the time."

And it only just occurred that baby Togepi had no idea what time was. Then again, Green couldn't explain it either.

"Ti-me?" Baby Togepi squeaked.

"Um . . . as in, hours minutes, something like that." Green shrugged. "Evening, night, which is what this is by the way, daytime?"

"I ge' it!" Baby Togepi giggled. "Time!"

Well, at least he was smart enough to figure it out. Maybe Green could teach him to read a clock as well?

"Clock goes tick tock!" Baby Togepi cried happily.

"Tick tock . . .?" Green murmured.

Idea.

"Ma-ma, tick tock clock!" Baby Togepi giggled again.

"Hey, you like the tick tock?" Green smiled.

"Yea!"

"Alright then. That's your name."

"Na-m?" The baby squeaked.

"You're new name is Tick Tock, ok?" Green asked.

"Mah na-m Tick Tock!" The baby Togepi yelled happily.

"You can have Tick as a nickname as well." Green laughed softly.

"Tick, Tick!" Tick Tock cried, laughing along with him. "I Tick!"

Maybe Green could get used to the baby?

Watching Tick scrabble around, introducing himself to every single object, inanimate or otherwise, Green thought maybe he could.

Tick was probably what Mr Pokemon meant. Tick was most likely going to help Green to . . . change, as it were.

"Hey, come on, bed time." Green called quietly. Tick giggled and bounced onto the bed, curling next to Green, who put a hand on the tiny pokemon's body.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: I think this one might be the shortest yet.

Green: Good. I have too much screen-time with you . . .

Renny: You're the main friggin' character!

Green: Doesn't mean I gotta be in every single chapter!

Renny: Yes it does. To me anyway. Oh, here's a bit of info about this story- Funny thing is, this is the only story where I just write and write the plot and the scenes and stuff, and it's the only one where I can get a huge-ass amount of stuff out of it. The other ones I can't, I need to force myself to think with them. I'm so happy I can do that with this~

Green: You are insane.

Renny: Yep. I know. Read, review and comment!


	7. Chapter 7- Rekindle

Green: Ok, I was thinking about stuff and then suddenly you had Tick appear and boom, I didn't think about them. Why?

Renny: You'll find out in a bit, 'k?

Green: Good.

Red: When the heck are you gonna do the Gym battle? Seriously, six chapters! In other stories you've at least gotten the second one with a battle in it.

Renny: It's called character development!

Red: Story-time, it's been about four days. That's four days and six chapters . . . You could have at least had one chapter for a day or something.

Renny: But then I wouldn't have made the storyline like this! Whatever. Disclaimer!

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: Before I say my usual catchphrase, I'll reply to some of the Guest reviews. Oh yeah, quick question . . . do any of you Guests have accounts?

**Guest 1- Green's my fav as well, which is partly why I use him so much in my stories hehe.**

**Guest 2- Expected anything less? I actually wanna see how far I can take it. Plus, it has a psychic move, so . . . TOGEPI ALL THE WAY.**

**Guest 3- Dude, A BOOK!? I wouldn't know how to start. How'd you figure I could write one anyway?**

Renny: And that's about it. I'll probably just do that from now on or something. Anyway, on with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Violet city pokemon centre, front room-**

There was something that was supposed to be in all human nature.

Greed, perhaps. But not all humans felt that, the exception being Blue of course.

Maybe hatred, but not all humans could bring themselves to completely hate someone as much as possible. That went without saying for half the population.

Gluttony. Now that was a strange one, since humans loved food and yet they didn't exactly want it much either. At least, Green didn't.

Fame as well. Lots wanted fame, lots talked about getting fame, but hardly anyone had ever actually done anything about it. Unless you count Red, who was more than capable of doing so.

Ice watched Green silently play with the newly born Tick Tock, shorted down to Tick because the name was long, and he frowned.

This boy didn't seem anything like he'd grown accustomed to in the past three or four days. Green was arrogant, but not exactly boasting his power. Green was also near impossible to get along with, Ice's usual conversations with the boy nearly always turned into arguments. Green was difficult and stubborn, through and through, and nothing could change that.

But seeing him now, after refusing to fight for the boy and then going back into his ball so he wouldn't see the destroyed look on his face, Ice could see the sudden changes.

When Tick was crying, Green would be patient and would calm him down. When Tick wanted to play, Green wouldn't say no, but he wouldn't exactly get up and run screaming with the baby. A few people stared, but Green did not react to them, like he was immune to their gazes as he smiled lightly at Tick, who was trying to climb his chest.

Ice remembered the huge scar he'd seen on the boy's body. If it was just ripped skin, then surely Tick's climbing would hurt Green? But Green didn't react to it. In fact, it was almost like he couldn't feel Tick clawing at his chest to get up onto his head.

Maybe it was something to do with Tick himself. There was a small urban legend that said that any Togepi or its evolutions, no matter how young or old, had healing powers that took away pain. Ice didn't know how it worked, but it must have been something Tick wasn't aware of. Not yet anyway.

The blue pokemon glanced at his companions sitting on the table next to him. Twin was roosting, but was staring at Green and Tick through the feathers of her wing. Amethyst was curled up, her back to the boy.

She'd understood why Green had pulled her out, but she still didn't like being pulled out straight away. A little unfair of her, but she had pride, and Ice could understand that.

He looked back at Green, and wondered how the stubborn headed boy could have been turned into this soft, lovable, almost parent-like child overnight. Perhaps it was Tick's presence? After all, Tick was a baby, and the tiny Togepi did think Green was his Mother after all.

But Green hadn't said a word after letting Ice and his companions out of their pokeballs. He could have left them inside, but maybe the boy was feeling guilty about not talking to them? If that was true, why wasn't he talking?

Or maybe it was because he didn't want to be anywhere near them. Right now they were on opposite sides of the room.

"Do we make the first move?" Ice asked quietly. His voice seemed enough to startle his female friends.

"He's still playing with Tick." Amethyst murmured, not even turning around.

"That doesn't mean we can ignore him as well."

"Expect we are not." Twin muttered. "We have been harsh on the boy. Now I see that all he needs is a caring hand or wing, and he will get better with time and patience. But all we have done is criticising him, and I doubt he has taken any of the words said to him to heart, but I believe they have an effect on him still."

"We've gone about this the wrong way." Ice sighed.

"You summarised my entire speech for no reason."

"I was making it simpler for those who don't speak Princess." Ice snapped.

"Guys." Amethyst rumbled. The two stopped and looked back at Green.

The man from yesterday, Mr Jeffen, had approached him by now and was talking quietly. Green wasn't responding, or making any kind of movement or sound to indicate he was even paying attention.

"I think he's broken." Ice said. "What happened yesterday . . . with you not fighting without bribery, and me not fighting at all . . . He probably thinks we hate him completely."

"I do." Amethyst said. "I hate him for pulling me out. I could have at least tried."

"Ame, even if you have Sturdy, you could have still been hurt badly." Ice told her. "He pulled you out because you couldn't handle it. If he were the same as what he was in Kanto, he would have forced you to fight anyway."

"And you would have died." Twin quietly said.

The little threesome went quiet for a while.

" . . . I can't hate him." Amethyst suddenly sighed. "I say I can and I want to, but . . . everything you say makes sense."

"Then you're being angry at him for no reason." Ice muttered, looking back at Green.

Mr Jeffen was looking frantic now. Green was still unresponsive, and he was still playing with Tick as if he was a robot set on repeat.

"I know." Amethyst murmured.

"We should probably see if we can do anything to help." Ice said. "That teacher guy seems like he needs Green to talk to him so he can say what he needs to."

"Maybe." Twin mumbled.

None of them made a move.

Mr Jeffen was looking angry now, and he was getting red in the face. Ice knew by now that getting angry with Green wasn't going to help at all, but if only Green could understand and he wasn't talking, then how could Ice say that?

He could write.

"Hey, you two got any paper?" Ice asked.

"What is 'paper'?" Twin asked, frowning.

"Made from trees. It's hard to explain, but it's used for drawing and writing on and it's white. Ame?"

"Sorry. But I think that girl over there has some." The Geodude said, pointing.

Ice looked over to where a girl, maybe around seven or so, was sitting with three older kids who had their pokemon out. The girl was drawing with a pencil on some white paper.

Ice jumped down from the table they were sitting on and walked over to the girl. She looked up, saw him, and smiled.

"Hi, Mr Totodile!" The girl giggled. One of the older kids around her noticed Ice.

"Woah, a rare pokemon!" A boy exclaimed. "Cool!"

"It probably belongs to someone." A girl scoffed. "So stop thinking you can catch it, dweeb."

"Shut up, pot-head."

"Guys, quiet." Another boy sighed.

Ice paid no attention to them. He blinked at the girl, and pointed at a sheet of paper.

"You want this?" The girl asked. Ice nodded. "Ok! I got lots, so have as much as you want. Take a pencil as well, if you wanna!"

The girl would make a nice person later on in life, Ice thought. He took hold of one of the sheets, and a pencil as well. He nodded to the girl in thanks, and dashed off back to the table.

"Why'd you get paper?" Amethyst asked, turning around finally to look at Green's direction, but focusing on Ice.

"So I can 'talk' to Mr Jeffen." Ice muttered. He picked up the pencil with practised ease, and started writing on the sheet.

After he'd done, Twin and Amethyst tried to read it, but neither of them managed to.

"Uh, you two want me to read it out for you?" Ice asked.

"If you do not mind." Twin sighed. "I think I may wish to learn to read after this, though."

"I'll teach the two of you. Ahem. _'Getting angry with him isn't going to help. You need to be patient and not lose your temper.'" _Ice read.

"That's it?" Amethyst blinked.

"It's all I needed to say." Ice shrugged. He jumped down from the table again, and ran over to where Mr Jeffen was now sighing and practically growling at Green, who amazingly enough was still ignoring him.

Ice pulled on Mr Jeffen's trouser leg to get the man's attention, and gave him the paper.

" . . . Ah." Mr Jeffen murmured. "No wonder he isn't responding to me."

Ice nodded. He glanced over at Green and saw the boy looking out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, how do you propose I approach him?" Mr Jeffen asked. "He skipped the last part of school without permission."

Ice wanted to say it wasn't Green's fault. He wanted to say it was his own fault because he'd broken the poor child, when he could have just been different and helped him instead.

Ice shrugged.

"Hmm . . . Green?" Mr Jeffen turned back to the boy. "I . . ."

He was trying to come up with a way of talking to Green that didn't involve being demanding and angry. For a teacher, it was difficult because that's what you needed to teach kids. It was a hard habit to get out of.

"You skipped the last part of the Trainer's school lesson yesterday." Mr Jeffen said bluntly. He said it with no anger though, and Green was now looking at him with a blank face. "I'm afraid you have detention for a few minutes with me, but I want to know why you skipped."

Green didn't answer. He blinked.

"I know it was probably because of the way the class treated you, but that should be no reason to-"

Ice interrupted the man by pulling his trouser leg again. Mr Jeffen glanced down and Ice held out a hand for the paper. When he received it, Ice looked up again and Mr Jeffen gave him a pen he had in his chest pocket for some reason.

Ice wrote down what he wanted to say and returned both things.

"A battle?" Mr Jeffen frowned. "You skipped school for a battle?"

He was getting angry again. Ice tugged again and motioned for the man to read the rest of what he'd written.

Mr Jeffen's expression slowly relaxed as he read. " . . . That's . . . actually a good reason to not go . . . Why did you refuse to fight?"

Ice looked away. He thought it would teach Green a lesson, one that meant he couldn't control whatever he wanted, but it did the opposite and hurt him instead. But he didn't want to write that down, so Ice shook his head.

"Well . . . I suppose I could try sitting in on the lessons so you can actually concentrate instead of be tormented." Mr Jeffen said.

Green looked up, smiling a bit. Mr Jeffen nodded slightly.

"I'll do my best to stop them from saying or doing anything, don't worry."

"The teacher did it to." Green whispered. His voice sounded raspy, as if he hadn't spoken or drank in a long time. Ice guessed he might have been crying overnight, when Tick was asleep.

"Then I'll fire her the second she says or does anything to you." Mr Jeffen said. "I told her you were going into her class, and that she should discourage any bad behaviour to you, so I don't know why she isn't even trying to control them."

"She's a bad teacher, that's why." Ice snapped. Mr Jeffen, though he couldn't understand Ice, nodded.

"Just do the best you can, ok?" Mr Jeffen said. Green nodded, and the man walked away and out of the pokemon centre.

"Kid." Ice called softly. Green glanced down at him. "Look . . . About yesterday . . . I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it to go like that, and . . . From now on, I'll try and help you, ok?"

" . . . I'll try to change." Green smiled slightly.

"Ma-ma's happah agayn!" Tick cried, grinning widely.

"Sort of." Green murmured.

"Kid, Amethyst said she doesn't hate you for pulling her out." Ice told him. "She said she couldn't hate you, and she understands about what you did. Twin also doesn't want the food either."

"Actually, I do. I am hungry."

Ice turned around to glare at the bird as she and Amethyst walked up.

"We're all hungry." Amethyst said. "So . . . sorry about the hating you thing."

"And I am sorry for forcing you to bribe me, but I am hungry." Twin said.

"I'll get some food from the cafeteria in a bit." Green said. He looked down at Tick. " . . . What do you eat?"

"I'd guess pokechow." Ice said. "It's the only thing I can think of right now."

Green nodded, and Ice was again reminded the boy still wasn't exactly better yet. At least he was trying to act normal, if only being a bit more considerate of them.

**oooo**

Green looked up from his seat in the cafeteria in the pokemon centre. Ice was trying to teach Twin and Amethyst how to read, and it wasn't going as well.

Green could have helped, but he didn't exactly want to do anything that could set them off again and make them hate him like they did before. In fact, they probably still hated him now, even if they'd sort of made up.

He didn't trust easily, and if he did . . . it was shattered just as easily. He was still expecting the three pokemon in front of him to turn around and start throwing insults at him again, like they had done before.

No, it wasn't them. Not all of them. Amethyst was the only one who hadn't criticised him before the battle with Red, and Twin only did so whenever she wanted because she was Princess, therefore used to looking down on people. Ice did it anyway, because of how Green treated his other pokemon.

And now not one of them was trying to insult him. Amethyst had forgiven him, although he doubted she would forget it, Twin had stopped looking down on him, even if she wanted to demand things like a Princess would, and Ice had stopped insulting Green, though Green knew he was only holding his tongue for his own sake.

Green didn't know what to do or think about anything. One second he was fine with being a normal Trainer who commanded pokemon normally, the next he was forced to be a special Trainer whose pokemon died more than they lost, and now he was unable to actually figure out what was wrong with himself.

He should forgive them. Green wanted so badly to forgive them, but somehow he just couldn't bring himself to do so until they proved they were willing to help him 'change' and 'connect'.

But there were more Green should probably forgive, but he hadn't.

Oak, for starters. He lied to Green about the new journey thing, and he never tried to tell Green of the dangers. Granted, the boy actually knew the old man had good reason to lie, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of disbelief and doubt.

Elm was a bit better, but he didn't tell Green about the increased death thing, so Green didn't know if he was alright or not.

Red and Blue, as well. They knew, _they knew_, about everything, and they didn't tell him. They were constantly putting him down as well, reminding him of his past explorations of Kanto. Even if they didn't want to have his pokemon die horribly at random points, or even be the reason for it themselves, they still did the same thing over and over. He'd seen them yesterday, but now they were both gone.

Probably gone off to Azalea or something.

He'd already ordered their food. Twin had her bird seed coming at some point, Ice was getting fish (Green didn't like fish but Ice wanted it anyway), Amethyst was having pokechow for rock types since she said that she could eat whatever she wanted so long as it didn't have water in it.

Tick had psychic pokechow and normal pokechow mixed together, which made Green think that maybe Tick was one of the special Togepi that had powers.

But then again, Green wasn't exactly in favour of Arceus was he? So more likely than not it was just a fluke and Tick was a normal Togepi.

Actually forget that, it was certain.

The waitress arrived and Green paid her with what little money he had (he'd probably have to see about finding another way of getting money other than battling soon), and watched 'his' team dig into their food. Tick seemed happily content with the weird mixture he had, and the others were happy with their own as well.

Green barely glanced at his own food. Just a few fries and a small cake in the shape of a pokeball, including a small can of coke as well.

"Hey, you could have had chicken you know." Ice said. "I'm sure Twin wouldn't mind you eating her cousins."

"Hmph." Twin scoffed, going back to her seed.

"I uh . . ." Green mumbled, looking away. "I'm a vegetarian."

"You are?" Amethyst asked. "Oh, I haven't met a Trainer or human who was vegetarian yet."

"I think is a very good way of life." Twin was smiling, probably happy that he wasn't eating her cousins.

"Because you're related to whoever gets eaten, we know." Ice waved his claws around. "Still, why're you vegetarian?"

"I just . . . don't think it's right to . . . eat the creatures we try and befriend." Green said. "It sounds wrong and . . . I don't like the smell. It's like stale death."

The three pokemon, minus Tick who was oblivious, stared at him.

"O-k . . ." Ice said slowly. "So, you don't like meat, because it smells like death?"

"Stale." Green mumbled. They were probably going to start laughing at him.

"That is an interesting way of thinking." Twin frowned.

"W-well, I kinda got it stuck in my head that when someone or something died, the smell never goes away, e-even if you wash it out." Green said, looking at the table. "And that's part of why I can't eat meat . . . 'cus it's scary to think I'm basically eating death."

The trio of pokemon were silent. Green looked up, and saw them smiling. He shrunk away a little.

"You know, I never pegged you as the type to say something like that, given your past." Ice said.

"I did not either." Twin chuckled lightly. "It is refreshing to know that there are some humans who think like that."

"Even if it's weird." Amethyst probably nodded.

"So, you're not gonna laugh?" Green asked.

"No, why would we?" Ice blinked. "That way of thinking is sort of like a nice way, and it's . . . kinda like you're slowly getting better, you know?"

"S-sort of."

"Sometimes I wish there were other pokemon who thought like that." Amethyst said. "But I guess I'll make do with humans, since you're the ones who catch and train us."

"Oh, that's . . . cool then." Green smiled a little. Even if he didn't trust them completely yet, he knew they were going to be more understanding, sort of.

"So, where are we going after this?" Ice asked.

"Uh . . . Mr Jeffen said about the whole sitting in class thing . . ." Green said. "So, I guess he wants me back there . . ."

"Well, I guess we'll go to the Trainer's school then." Amethyst smiled. "And this time, we'll all be there with you."

"Should be more fun if we're all out." Ice shrugged. "And if Jeffen says we can't all stay out, then . . . screw him."

"I will not stay inside that cramped ball any longer." Twin huffed. "Even if I evolve and become a large Pidgeot, I will not go into it unless completely necessary."

"I wasn't going to force you." Green murmured.

"I know you were not, I was just saying." Twin nodded.

"Ma-ma happah!" Tick suddenly cried. He was done with his food.

"I guess I am." Green said, running a hand over the soft pikes on the baby's head.

"Eat your food, kid." Ice said.

"I'm not hungry." Green rolled his eyes slightly. His stomach decided otherwise.

"Looks like your stomach wants food, even if you don't." Ice chuckled. "We're nearly done anyway, so just eat you food and we'll get going."

"What if I don't want it all?"

"Force it down. I'm not having you starving to deathf in the middle of some battle." Ice snorted.

"Battle . . .?" Green murmured.

"Yeah, battle. I'll fight for you, but only if you can change." Ice smiled. "I don't care how long it takes for that to happen, but if it does . . . the effort will be worth it."

Green nodded a little. "Yeah, like I said, I'll try my best to . . . to change."

"And we will be with you every step of the way." Twin said.

None of them mentioned the hanging danger of the fact that not all of them might be there at the end of their journey.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Oh my god, finally!

Green: That took you a while.

Renny: I'm sure I started this the same day . . .

Red: Or yesterday and you forgot when you actually did start it.

Renny: Nope, pretty sure it was today.

Green: Sure it was. *Rolls eyes*

Renny: *Sticks tongue out* Bleh. Read, review and comment peeps!


	8. Chapter 8- Catching pokemon 101

Renny: S' up?

Green: Screw yourself! I want to battle that Gym already!

Renny: Shaddap. It'll either be this chapter or the next one, ok?

Red: Do you even plan any of this out?

Renny: Not really. It just happens.

Red: *Sigh*

Renny: Disclaimer!

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Trainers school, classroom-**

Unsurprisingly enough, the entire class was on their best behaviour when Mr Jeffen was in the room. Not one insult was said to Green, and none of the students jabbed at him when something that was particularly hurtful was mentioned.

Even the teacher didn't say anything to him. Green was sort of glad for that, but if it meant that he had to go through one more day of this total silence, he'd probably go nuts.

Mr Jeffen had said to do as they usually did, and this was obviously not what they usually did. It was slightly more unsettling then when they were insulting him.

The only thing that was actually bearable was that Ice, Twin, Amethyst and Tick were out and were either sitting on his table, playing with the pen that was given but not needed (Tick), flying around overhead to observe some stuff (Twin), napping under the table (Amethyst), or sitting on Green's head and glaring at anyone other than Mr Jeffen (Ice).

"Capturing a pokemon is sometimes easy, but most of the time it's difficult." Ms Fara said, glancing around at the class and at Green's pokemon.

"Why, Miss?" One of the girls asked.

"Mainly because most wild pokemon don't want to be caught." Ma Fara told her. "Of course, some pokemon may actually want to be captured, so battling them is sometimes not the case."

Green thought back to how he got each of the pokemon he had right now.

Ice was given to him, by professor Elm. Tick was hatched from the Egg and somehow belonged to him, even if the Togepi didn't have a pokeball. Amethyst just 'walked' up and asked to be caught.

Twin was the only one who was caught against her will, even if she was alright with being in a team. For now, at least. Hopefully Green wouldn't have to deal with some sort of breakdown in the future, because he wasn't very good with emotions.

"Catching a wild pokemon as a starter pokemon is something most people tend to do." Ms Fara continued. "For example, a boy wants a starter pokemon. He knows how to catch a pokemon, but unfortunately he doesn't have another pokemon to catch said wild starter with."

"So how does he get the pokemon?" A boy asked.

"Two ways." Ms Fara told the class. "One, he can ask another Trainer to catch a pokemon for him, or to lend a pokemon so he can use it. The second is to go to the Trainers school."

"I know!" One of the oldest boys called, his hand in the air. "Once a month, this school has an exam that allows four kids to pass and become actual Trainers, right?"

"Correct, Arab." Ms Fara smiled. "And tomorrow is the exam date. All of you will be qualified for the exam, but only four of you can catch your starter pokemon with the rental pokemon we have here."

"But Green already has four pokemon!" One of the girls cried. Green cringed, expecting an onslaught of jeers and hate.

"That's why he will demonstrate how to catch your own starter." Ms Fara said. Green blinked slightly. Maybe the kids just wanted to impress Mr Jeffen so they could get chosen?

Then Ms Fara's words hit him.

"D-demonstrate?" He stammered. All eyes turned to Green and he shrank down.

"Yes." Ms Fara nodded. "You're already a Trainer, so you'll be showing these kids how to catch their first pokemon. Of course you'll be using one of your own pokemon, if you want to."

"Yeah, that's ok . . ." Green mumbled. Everyone turned away from him again.

"We'll go to Sprout Tower for the exam this time, but we'll have to be careful with the tower." Ms Fara said. "It's sacred, and the monks may not welcome us if we damage it by accident."

"But if Green damages it, it'll be his fault." One of the boys said. "So why would we get the blame?"

"He's technically a part of this school while he's here, so we're just as responsible as he is." Ms Fara explained.

The bell went for the end of the lesson, and the school day, and Ms Fara ushered everyone out of the classroom. Mr Jeffen followed Green and they stopped below a tree to talk.

"Did you know about this?" Green frowned.

"Yes, actually." Mr Jeffen laughed. "It was sort of our plan to have you demonstrate, since you were the first runner-up of the last pokemon league."

"Which was a few months ago, may I add." Ice said, still sitting on Green's head.

"I know, I was in it." Green sighed to him.

"Sorry we didn't say anything." Mr Jeffen smiled. "We wanted it to be a surprise, but I was sort of worried that wouldn't happen, with everything that went down yesterday . . ."

Green glared at him, and the man stopped talking about that particular subject.

"Anyway, you'll have to use the weakest member of your team right now." Mr Jeffen went on. "The pokemon in Sprout Tower are low-levelled, and your three pokemon are higher levelled than them."

"So basically, you're telling me to use a baby pokemon who doesn't even know how to count, to fight in a battle?" Green asked dryly. "Oh yeah, that's gotta be the best idea I've ever heard."

"The little one needs to battle at some point." Twin said, from her perch above them in the branches.

"Thank you." Green called up sarcastically.

"He actually does, kid." Ice muttered. Green wasn't commenting on the change from 'brat' to 'kid'.

"Fine, I'll use Tick." Green grumbled. "But if he gets in a tight spot, I'm sending in Twin or something, ok?"

"That's alright." Mr Jeffen nodded. "Just make sure to be at the tower the same time school starts tomorrow, ok?"

"Fine." Green shrugged.

Mr Jeffen walked off after waving a quick goodbye, and Green sighed.

"What's up?" Ice asked.

"I hate demonstrations." Green muttered. "I had to do several when I was in my old Master's Training academy, and those hurt like heck."

"You are not fighting, Tick is." Twin said, flapping down and onto the ground.

"I know, I'm just sick of giving them out." Green sighed again. "Maybe after this one I never have to do it again."

"Or not." Ice snickered.

"Shut up."

"Ma-ma!" Tick called, stumbling up to them with Amethyst 'walking' behind him.

"Hi." Green smiled lightly, bending down to pick the baby Togepi up. When he stood, Tick was clutching at his shirt and snuggling into it happily.

"You really like him." Amethyst said quietly.

"Well . . . I guess I'd have to, otherwise he'd just be . . . different." Green mumbled. "Neglected or something."

"You care about him, she means." Ice sighed.

"Oh, uh . . . Well he did hatch when I was with him, and he calls me 'mama', so . . ." Green huffed out a small laugh. "I guess that's why?"

"It is nice to see humans giving care to the younger pokemon." Twin said, gliding up to grip onto Green's arm so she could peer at Tick.

"You'd say that." Ice rolled his eyes, jumping down onto the ground. "You're the only real wild pokemon there is here. Even Amethyst was born in captivity."

"Tick was born in a forest." Green pointed out.

"Yeah, but he belongs to you, so he isn't wild." Ice said. Green nodded.

"So I am the only one who was born wild, is that a problem?" Twin sniffed.

"I lived wild for four years, if it counts for anything." Amethyst pointed out.

"Not to kill the topic or anything . . ." Ice began. "We should probably get out and train Tick a bit. He's only level 2 right now."

"What level should we get him to, though?" Green blinked. "I mean, the pokemon in Sprout Tower were between 2 and 6 or something, so . . . does that mean we should get him to level 5?"

"Maybe." Ice nodded. "Just train him until he gets to level 5 then, and we'll go back to the pokemon centre to get some rest."

"That is an acceptable plan." Twin said.

"Good, because you didn't really have much of a choice in the matter."

"Maybe I'll train you lot as well." Green said. "After all, I'm sure the first Gym has pokemon at least level 13."

"Since it's a flying Gym, you should focus on Amethyst." Ice said. "But training me and Twin for backups can be helpful as well. Good thinking, kid."

"Thanks."

**oooo**

**-The next day, outside of Sprout Tower-**

"Alright everyone, welcome to Sprout Tower." Mr Jeffen smiled, spreading his arms as if to showcase the tower even more.

Some of the students started whispering about the demonstration that Green was going to give, and a few were wondering when they were going to be able to get their own pokemon.

The boy himself was standing nearby Mr Jeffen, but not close enough, just in case someone had the idea of calling him a teacher's pet or something. Tick was resting in Green's arms, while the rest of his pokemon were in their pokeballs in case something happened.

"I've gotten permission from the monks to do the demonstration on the second floor, so if you'd all follow me please . . ."

There were a few cheers as Mr Jeffen opened the huge doors leading to the inside of the tower. The head-teacher walked inside, and the rest of the students, including Green, followed him quickly.

Once they were up to the second part of the tower, which was huge and spacious, Mr Jeffen turned to Green and nodded slightly.

"I don't have to talk to them, right?" Green murmured.

"No, I'll do the commentating, you just catch a pokemon." Mr Jeffen said. He gave Green a white ball with a small tag on it. "This is a school ball. This way, the pokemon you catch won't be registered to you, but instead the school, so then it can be used for lessons or rental for the exams."

"Ok." Green nodded a little. He took the ball and set Tick down, then bent down so he could talk to the baby pokemon.

"Ma-ma!" Tick giggled.

"Yes, it's me Tick. I need you to listen to me like yesterday, ok?" Green whispered. "Just do what I say and we can have a little celebration afterwards if we get it right, ok?"

"O-k Ma-ma!" Tick cheered. Green smiled and stood back up.

He glanced at Mr Jeffen and nodded.

"Alright, now Green is demonstrating how to catch a wild pokemon. I'd like you to pay close attention to what he does, but also listen to me." Mr Jeffen called. "Remember, you won't catch pokemon the exact same way, but you can take tips from someone who's most likely caught a lot more pokemon than even I have."

"About over a hundred." Green muttered under his breath. Tick giggled.

"The easiest pokemon to catch here is a Rattata, but occasionally you might find a Gastley." Mr Jeffen continued. Green tensed up.

"T-there are Gastley here?" He stammered. Green tried to swallow to make his voice stop sounding so panicked.

"Didn't you know?" Mr Jeffen raised an eyebrow, turning to him.

"N-no." Green mumbled. "I don't have to c-catch one of those, do I?"

"Not if you don't want to." Mr Jeffen said.

"Oh, good . . ."

"Is he scared of Gastley, sir?" A boy asked from the back.

"I don't know." Mr Jeffen sighed. "But he won't be demonstrating how to catch a Gastley, so I'm sorry to anyone who wanted to see that."

Green felt a bit embarrassed when a few students groaned something about him being a wuss, but they shut up when Mr Jeffen glared at them.

"I won't have anyone giving Green any sort of grief just because he doesn't like certain pokemon." He said sternly. "I'm sure you all don't like a certain pokemon as well, so you're all hypocrites if you say he's a coward for not wanting to fight a Gastley."

"Sorry sir." The class chorused.

"I'm not the one you should be saying sorry to."

"Sorry Green." They said again. Green gulped, feeling a little hotter. It wasn't nice when they were insulting him, but if they were being 'nice' it was probably even worse, because he didn't know how to react.

"Y-yeah, ok." He mumbled.

"Carrying on." Mr Jeffen muttered. He turned to Green again. "How quickly can you find a pokemon?"

"Depends." Greens shrugged. "They don't just randomly spawn out of nowhere. You kinda need to look for them."

"Did anyone hear that?" Mr Jeffen asked the class. "Pokemon aren't going to appear to you. As Green said, and as I'm sure your teachers said, you have to look for them. It might take a long time, so-"

"How about that one, sir?" A girl called. She was pointing somewhere behind Green.

Green spun around and saw a small Rattata stalking up to Tick, who was giggling to himself about something Green probably would never understand.

"That'll do fine." Mr Jeffen said from behind him. "Green, if you don't mind?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Green nodded. He'd never had an audience for catching a pokemon, so he was sure he'd screw up somehow.

"Ma-ma, poke-man!" Tick called, finally looking up to see the Rattata. The baby Togepi stood up on his stubby legs, and waved his arms about a little.

"Charm." Green said.

The Rattata stopped just in front of Tick, who giggled and did a little dance for it. The Rattata watched him, looking fascinated by the way Tick moved around like a spinning top.

"Now then, what Green is doing is lowering the pokemon's attack." Mr Jeffen said to the class. "While Rattata aren't that strong, they do pack a powerful bite to a weaker pokemon."

Once Tick stopped dancing, the Rattata hissed at the lack of entertainment. It got onto its hind quarters, and readied its claws.

"Hit it with your paw!" Green cried.

Tick squeaked a little, and pulled back his arm. Just before the Rattata attacked, Tick smacked the purple rat in the face and made it stumble backwards.

"Togepi isn't known to have any attacking moves until it learns Metronome, so making use of its other body parts is the best way to have it attack." Mr Jeffen said.

Some of the class squealed in excitement, and Green sighed. How annoying.

"Tick, hit it one more time." He commanded. "Then step back, ok?"

"O-k Ma-ma!" Tick cried.

Tick hopped up to the Rattata, which was standing back up again, and kicked its face where he'd slapped it before. The Rattata fell down again, but quickly got back up. It hissed loudly, silencing the entire class, and opened its jaws to reveal extremely sharp teeth.

"Tick, move!" Green yelled.

The baby Togepi squealed, and tried to get away from the Rattata. The purple rat was faster than it looked though, and it clamped its teeth down on Tick's shell.

"Tick, hit it!" Green cried.

Tick squealed again, and tried hitting the Rattata with at least one of his wild kicks or punches, but didn't land a single hit on it. The Rattata made a sound as if it was laughing, and clamped down harder. Green could see cracks in Tick' shell.

"Ice!" Green cried, throwing out the Totodile's pokeball.

"What's going- Holy Shaymin!"

"Help him, please!"

Ice nodded and dashed forward. The water pokemon spun around and hit the Rattata with his tail and then kicked it away from Tick, who was crying loudly. The class was still silent.

"Is he ok?" Green asked, voice shaking.

"Just a crack or two." Ice called back. "C'mon, little guy. You're ok now . . ."

The Rattata got back up again and hissed, but luckily Green saw it before it pounced.

"Ice, it's coming back!" He shouted.

"You want some, rat?" Ice challenged, snarling. He turned to face the Rattata, and readied his claws.

"Scratch!"

Ice ran forward just as the Rattata charged into a Tackle, and stopped the rat's attack by slashing its face. The Rattata stumbled back, but went straight back into another Tackle right afterwards, this time heading for Tick again.

"Oh, no you don't!" Ice barked.

"Water Gun, now!" Green called.

Ice opened up his mouth and took a deep breath. From where Green was standing, it looked as if a blue glow suddenly appeared inside of his mouth. Then Ice clamped his mouth shut for a split second, and it shot open again, but this time a small torrent of water shot out of it.

The Rattata was hit with dead accuracy, and it fell down again. But it still got back up, strangely ignoring Ice, who had attacked it, and charging towards Tick.

"Tick, run!" Ice shouted. Green gave a wordless cry, and took a step forward, about to intercept.

But then the strangest thing happened. Tick gave a strange cry, which echoed around the entire room and maybe the whole tower, and his little eyes started glowing. The Rattata started glowing the same colour as well, and it was lifted into the air, squealing.

"That's . . . That's Extrasensory, isn't it?" Mr Jeffen whispered. Green nodded blankly.

"You a bad poke-man!" Tick cried, waving his arms around. The Rattata's glowing body followed his movements, and then it was thrown onto the ground.

"Green, the pokeball?" Mr Jeffen said.

"O-oh, right." Green stumbled to find it, seeing it on the floor next to him. He must have dropped it when he sent out Ice or something.

The boy quickly grabbed the white pokeball, and lobbed it straight at the fallen Rattata. It hit the purple rat on the head, and absorbed it into the ball, where it fell to the ground and shook a couple of times before stopping.

As Green went to pick it up, Mr Jeffen turned back to the class.

"Now that, class, is a perfect example of what to do if your pokemon get in a tight spot." The man explained. "For Green, this risk is increased. Does anyone know why?"

"Because he's careless?" One kid suggested.

Green picked up the ball and winced, then turned to Tick. The cracks on the baby's shell were actually starting to heal with some of the Extrasensory that was left over from the fight.

"He's gonna be fine." Ice murmured from beside him. Green nodded slightly, but he picked Tick up nonetheless and cuddled him.

"No. I'm sure you've all heard of the death rate for pokemon during battle, yes?" Mr Jeffen asked.

"It's like, five percent or something, right?" Someone called.

"That's correct. Now Green has a big risk at sending any of his pokemon out, because the pokemon registered to him have an increased death rate, up to forty percent."

"R-really?" A huge amount of the class cried. A few turned to stare at Green, but he ignored them in favour of shoving the Rattata's ball into Mr Jeffen's hands.

"I'm done here." He said, looking up at the teacher with a blank expression. "Right? I can go."

"Yes, you can." Mr Jeffen nodded. "You can challenge the Gym if you want to."

"We plan to." Ice said, climbing onto Green's shoulder.

"He says 'we plan to'." Green translated.

"He can understand his pokemon!?" One of the kids exclaimed.

"Yes, it's a side effect of the increased death rate. Or is it the other way around? I'm not sure, but both come with the other." Mr Jeffen told them.

Green decided that was the time he was walking out. The kids parted for him as he left, and all too soon the boy was out of the tower and going towards the pokemon centre.

"Tick's gonna be alright." Ice mumbled. "Look, he's just sleeping."

"I know, but I'm just gonna be sure." Green said, glancing down at the baby. "Once we check him over and he's better, we'll go and see about that Gym, ok?"

"I think Amethyst is gonna be happy to hear that." Ice nodded.

Green nodded back, and went to the pokemon centre.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Phew, finally! Now I can get back to _PKMD: Rising Cain_.

Green: You changed the name?

Renny: Yep. _Set Fire To The Rain_ was too stupid of a name, so yeah.

Red: I liked it.

Renny: Oh well. I think _Rising Cain_ sounds better.

Green: Was the Rattata the first catch in-game?

Renny: Yeah, it was. I kinda don't really like the Rattata line that much, because it's weak, but I like the design so it's gonna be perma-boxed until I actually have use for it.

Red: Smart?

Renny: Uh-huh. Read, review and comment!


	9. Chapter 9- First Gym

Renny: I'm not sure whether or not the thing last time was a cliffy, but I'm not gonna continue where I left off. Mainly because I'm lazy.

Green: _So_ lazy.

Renny: I'm allowed to. Anyway, disclaimer?

Red: Huh? What? Oh, uh . . . Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show! Red, what are you watching?

Red: N-NOTHING!

**OOOOOO**

**-Violet city Gym-**

Tick was resting in the pokemon centre with Twin as his guard in case something happened. If something did happen, Twin would get Tick and bring him to Green so they could get out of the place. Ice and Amethyst were with Green obviously.

Ice wasn't really that bothered about the Gym battle, but Amethyst was getting more and more pumped up by the second.

"I can't wait!" She was squealing. "I'm gonna battle properly for the first time in . . . four years!"

"And you're gonna win as well." Green told her. "I'm sure of it. We trained to make it happen!"

"Yeah!" Amethyst grinned.

"Don't get cocky." Ice said from his usual perch on Green's head. "We might lose."

"Lose?" Green swallowed lightly. "Right, but . . ."

"I know you're afraid of losing, but if Amethyst gets into trouble I'll help her out." Ice reassured him. "So don't worry, alright?"

"Y-yeah, ok." Green nodded.

"Stop being such babies!" Amethyst cried, complete with an over-dramatic eye roll. "I'll be fine. Normal and flying moves can barely hit me."

"Yeah, but what if-"

"Green, stop worrying." Ice said again.

"Right."

In the middle of the room, there was a strange looking platform with a circular beam in the middle of it. Green couldn't see above it, because it was too dark to see anything up there.

"What do you think's up there?" Amethyst asked.

"No idea." Ice commented. "But this is a flying Gym, so maybe the Trainers are all up there with the Gym leader."

"They might be." Green said. "Brock had a tournament, Misty had a sort of run-down place, Erika had a freakin' flower shop . . . and for some reason, Blaine lived on a volcano."

"I thought you only had one badge?" Ice frowned.

"Oh, I do." Green nodded. "Red told me about the others."

"Makes sense."

Green stepped onto the platform with Amethyst, and they waited. And waited. And then waited some more.

" . . . Is anything meant to be happening right now?" Amethyst asked, glancing down at the floor.

"Well, maybe it's one of those automated thi- AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The platform suddenly shot up and interrupted Green mid-speech, and when it stopped the boy found himself on his backside, clinging to Amethyst for dear life.

"Sorry about that." Someone chuckled.

Green, still gasping for breath, looked up at the person. It was a man wearing a flier suit, or what looked like one anyway. He had some goggles and a brown hat as well. And blue hair. Blue hair . . .

"Are you Falkner?" Green asked.

"Nope, I'm his dad." The man smiled. "Falkner's off training to take over my Gym."

"Oh." Green blinked. Why was he told Falkner was the Gym leader?

The man offered a hand to the boy, who gratefully took it and stood. Green almost froze at the sight of how tall the man was. He was easily over three times Green's size, which made Green feel really, _really_ tiny.

"Aren't you a bit young for training pokemon?" The man frowned, scratching his head. "I'm sure Oak said that you were eleven, not eight . . ."

"I-I am eleven!" Green stammered. "You're just t-tall."

"Oh yeah! I keep forgetting, sorry." The man laughed. "Anyway, I'm Oswald, Gym leader of Violet city. You are?"

"If Grandpa told you about me, shouldn't you know my name?" Green asked. "Heck, if you know who Grandpa even is, you should know."

"I don't get out much." Oswald laughed. "I'm uh . . . sort of a hermit. Kinda. Oak just gives me random updates. He said he had a Grandson but never mentioned the name."

"Did he tell you why I'm here?" Green asked quietly.

"Oh, yeah, totally." Oswald nodded. "Between you and me, I don't see why he seemed so worked up about how you treat pokemon. You seem fine to me."

" . . . Uh, well . . ."

After a quick and embarrassed explanation, with Ice's helpful yet useless input since Oswald couldn't understand him, Oswald was nodding solemnly and wasn't talking.

"Um. Oswald, sir?" Green swallowed.

"So . . . basically, you used to abuse them." The man murmured.

"I . . . I guess?" Green backed away a little.

" . . . I see why the old man had you come here and give you that special pokedex." Oswald said, looking down at Green. "But . . ."

"B-but what?"

"But you're not getting the badge." Oswald said coldly.

"W-what!? I know I'm meant to battle and stuff, but why are you deciding that now!?" Green cried.

"Anyone who abuses, or abused, pokemon is not allowed a badge to show their connection, as they don't and never will have one. Clearly you don't believe in this connection anyway, as you're being forced to go on this journey when clearly you couldn't care less." Oswald snapped. "We can battle. But if you win, you will not get the badge. Understood, boy?"

"My name's Green." Green mumbled.

"I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?" Oswald bellowed.

"Y-yes sir!" Green yelped back. Oswald nodded, satisfied, and walked to the other end of the arena that made up the huge platform above the ground.

Green swallowed and tried not to collapse from sheer terror. Oswald was a scary man when he was angry, and Green had only known him for a few minutes.

"This will be a two on two battle." Oswald called suddenly. "If you use more than two, you will be disqualified. Understand?"

"I only have two anyway." Green called back. "So yes."

"Good. Then I'll start out this fight!"

Oswald didn't bother shouting out the name of the pokemon he was using. He just threw the ball and out came a huge Pidgey, probably even bigger than Twin was. Green squeaked when he saw the look in Oswald's eyes. The Gym leader intended to teach Green a lesson, even if he was doing his best to change.

"Um, Ice?" Green glanced up at the Totodile still on his head. "You wanna go and start this off?"

"This will be my revenge for Spearow." Ice said.

He jumped off of Green's head and got into a battle-ready stance, glaring at the Pidgey in front of him.

"You wanna dance, big birdy?" He growled to it.

"Pidge!" It snarled back.

"Talon, Tackle!" Oswald shouted.

The Pidgey spun in the air a couple of times, and then darted down with such speed that Green didn't even see if hit Ice. All he saw was a blur and then Ice was lying on the ground, muttering something about birds and speed.

"Water Gun!" Green shouted.

Ice shook his head and snapped his jaws at where the Pidgey was hopefully flying. Green couldn't see it very well because it was moving too fast, but he hoped that Ice could see it perfectly fine. The blue pokemon shot a Water Gun straight at the blur moving around, but it didn't hit the Pidgey. It stopped in mid-air, laughed at Ice, and was promptly shot with another Water Gun.

"Sand Attack, Talon!" Oswald commanded. "Don't let the Totodile see anything!"

The Pidgey cawed something which only the pokemon could understand, and kicked up a tiny sandstorm from nowhere. The sandstorm was blown into Ice's eyes, giving him no time to react. He was blinded until he could get the sand out of his eyes.

"Rubbing it won't help!" Green told him. "Leave the sand, let it go out on its own!"

"Dude, this stings!" Ice yelled. "How can I not rub at it!?"

"Just don't!"

If Green was lucky enough, Ice's eyes would cry out the sand on their own. Until then, Ice was stuck being blind-sided for a while. Barely a minute into the fight and they were already being beaten. Typical.

Ice growled lowly, and Green ordered another Water Gun. The attack missed completely, and the Pidgey laughed at Ice yet again.

"Tackle." Oswald said.

The Pidgey cawed and shot down at Ice, who couldn't move out of the way.

"Ice, it's coming in from the front!" Green yelled. The Totodile nodded, and somehow jumped out of the way just before the Pidgey hit him.

"You'll have to tell me where he is!" Ice called. "I still can't see very well!"

"Got it!"

"Use the clock positions!" Ice shouted to Green.

Green paused. "Um, what's that?"

"Oh for . . . Ok, call for a time out!"

"Uh, time out!" Green yelled.

"What? There's no time out in the middle of a battle!" Oswald snapped.

"Please?"

"Fine. Just once though."

"Get over here, kid." Ice told Green. The boy quickly made his way over to the blue pokemon and crouched down. "The clock positions. Pretend that the front of me is the 12 o'clock position, and the back of me is the 6 o'clock position. The right side of me is 1-5, and the left is 7-11. Got it?"

"R-right." Green murmured.

"Are you sure?"

"Maybe?"

"Well, that's reassuring." Ice muttered. "Tell him time in, and get back to your place."

Green didn't like being ordered around by his pokemon, but Ice seemed to know more about this clock positions thing than Green did. He nodded and ran back to his original place, and then looked at Oswald.

"Time in!" The boy called.

"Finally!" Oswald sighed. "Talon, Gust!"

The Pidgey cawed yet again, and beat its wings harshly. Ice was blown back by the wind, and he slammed against the wall and slid down it.

"What just happened!? Twin's Gust was different!" Green cried.

"Ugh, an Alpha pokemon's moves will be different than a normal pokemon." Ice grunted. "So that's why Twin had a twister thing, and this one just has wind."

"Alpha?"

"Pidgey, pidge!" The Pidgey snapped.

"Yeah, I said it! Got a problem?" Ice challenged.

"Uh, Ice, try not to provoke the angry bird." Green squeaked.

"I'm _blind_ because of this thing, how can I not!?"

"Tackle!" Oswald snapped. Green jumped, he'd forgotten the Gym leader was there. It seemed as though Oswald didn't appreciate being ignore either.

"Ice, uh . . . twelve o'clock!?" Green cried out.

"Helpful." He heard Ice mutter. The Totodile jumped out of the way again, and the Pidgey hit the wall where Ice had.

"Water Gun, three o'clock!" Green was actually starting to get the hang of this clock thing.

"Hope you're right, kid!"

Ice shot a Water Gun right at the Pidgey's back. It cried out in pain, and then cooed as its body relaxed and fell.

"Talon's out?" Oswald frowned.

"Um. Is that a bad thing?" Green asked.

"No, I'm just surprised you managed to get him." The Gym leader scoffed. "Come back, friend. You did good. Now then, Razor, show this child the real power of a bird!"

Oswald sent out a huge Pidgeotto, which looked remarkably like an evolved and male version of Twin.

"Is that what I think it is?" Ice asked, walking over to Green. His eyes seemed better, although he was still squinting a little.

"I-is that an Alpha Pidgeotto?" Amethyst stammered.

"I still don't know what that is." Green muttered to them. He swallowed and looked up. "It looks like Twin . . ."

"Yeah, but it's not." Ice growled. "That dude has only gone and sent out possibly the worst thing he could have done in the whole entire world for a first badge fight."

"I'm pretty sure there's worse things than a big bird." Green swallowed. Somehow he didn't believe his own words.

"Ah, so you noticed!" Oswald called. "This is Razor, my pride and joy! Caught from Route 29 actually. I think he was the leader of the Pidgey that lived there."

"Oh, so that's why Twin was the leader then." Ice muttered. "That thing must be her brother or father."

"Oh, so we're facing something even worse than Twin." Green sighed. "Terrific."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but get on with this battle!" Oswald shouted.

"Right, sorry!"

"Let me at him." Amethyst growled. "I'll show that man!"

"Isn't she normally the calm one?" Ice muttered.

"I'd say more bold, but yes." Green whispered. "Ame, try to hit it with Rock Throw. It can't hurt you much with flying or normal attacks, and the sand stuff doesn't really work on you. So go!"

Amethyst needed no more commands. She got onto her two arms and, with surprising speed for a rock pokemon, 'dashed' towards the huge Pidgeotto.

"Razor, Wing Attack!" Oswald shouted.

The huge Pidgeotto cawed even louder than anything Green had heard before. It swooped down, its wings spread out wide, and the boy noticed the feathers glowing slightly. But hopefully it wouldn't scare away Amethyst.

The pokemon herself seemed a bit unsure, but she had the reassurance of being rock typed. So Amethyst kept going, and somehow made rocks materialise from her palms while 'running', and then threw them at the Pidgeotto just as it was about to hit her.

The massive bird screeched, dodged the rocks, and flew around her. Its beak snapped at her, but didn't try to attack. Likely it knew that it was at a disadvantage.

"We might actually win this." Ice said. "This part may actually be easier than the other one."

"You're not a rock type. Of course it'll be easier." Green scoffed.

"Razor, Gust!" Oswald bellowed suddenly.

Green snapped to attention and watched a twister form right in front of the Pidgeotto, much like the one Twin had produced. It was a heck of a lot bigger, though, and it swept Amethyst right off her hands and threw her into the ceiling. Because of her heavy weight, she fell down quickly, but went through the floor as well.

"Ame!" Green and Ice cried out. Luckily she seemed to be able to grab a hold of the floor before she fell through, and was able to pull herself back up.

"I'm good!" The Geodude shouted, giving them a quick thumbs up.

Oswald shouted out an order, and the Pidgeotto swooped back down for a second round. Ame stood and gathered rocks quickly.

"Rock Throw." Green whispered.

"Rock Throw!" Ice shouted.

_Crack!_

The rocks hit the Pidgeotto just as it was about to attack. The massive bird cawed and fell down, much like the Pidgey before, and failed to get back up. Green rushed over to Amethyst and picked her up, grunting with effort, but managed to stand.

"That was awesome." He quietly told her. "Nice job."

"Thanks." Amethyst sighed, smiling.

"Hey, I helped as well!" Ice snapped. "Or did you forget who took down the Pidgey?"

"Yeah I know, thanks. Both of you." Green smiled.

Someone tapped his shoulder, and Green looked up into the eyes of a glaring Oswald, with his Pidgeotto resting on his arm.

"I still stand by what I said, kid." Oswald growled. "You may have fought well, but you're not getting the badge. Understand?"

"Yeah, I do." Green mumbled. He did understand, really, but he was a bit angry that Oswald was still not going to give it, even after the load of close calls that had just occurred during literally one battle. It also occurred to Green that he'd only been in two Trainer battles so far, the first ending in disaster and the second . . . well, you know what happened.

"Oswald, my dear child, you can stop lying to the boy anytime now." An old voice laughed.

Both humans and pokemon looked up to see an old man walking through one of the doors that Green had failed to notice on the platform.

"But he-"

The old man held up a hand, and Oswald went silent. The old man turned to Green, and suddenly he recognised him.

"Y-you're the Elder!" Green exclaimed. "Um, right?"

"That's correct, child." The Elder nodded. "My name is Uran, I am Oswald's father, and the previous Gym leader."

"Oh. Wait, what do you mean 'lying'?" Green frowned.

"I think he's talking about the league rules." Ice murmured. "I'm not that familiar with them, but I do know there's something about Gym leaders and badges."

"You are so helpful."

Uran chuckled, smiling at them. "Ah, I see that despite your past, you have grown. And in such a short time as well, that is quite impressive. Though, you do have much to learn and discover, so do not think your journey is over yet, young one."

Uran turned to Oswald, his eyes hardened and stern.

"Give him the badge." The old man commanded. "I know the league rules state that if the challenger wins the battle, you cannot stop him or her from taking it. Only the challenger can stop you from giving them the badge, if they do not want it. He clearly wants it, so give it to him."

Oswald, grumbling, reached into his pocket. He held out his hand and Green did the same, watching the man place a small badge in the shape of a wing in the palm of his hands.

"I confer to you the Zephyr badge." Oswald muttered. "Now get lost, you . . ."

Uran stared, and Oswald walked away. After a few seconds, the old man turned to Green and smiled as the boy put away the badge carefully.

"I apologise for my Son's behaviour." Uran smiled. "He's never been one to follow the rules, even if it means getting in deep trouble with those who hold greater power. It's something I hope my Grandson does not inherit."

"Me neither." Green nodded. "Thanks for helping out. If that's what it was, anyway."

"Oh, I knew Oswald wouldn't give you the badge, given your past." Uran said. "In fact, when I first looked at you, I did think that you would fail. Especially when you were forced to bribe your own pokemon to fight."

"Well, he certainly knows how to hit the nail on the head." Ice said flatly.

"He's not being mean." Amethyst murmured. "I'm sure he's coming to a good part now."

"But now, I see that even the most stubborn of your pokemon are willing to fight for you." The man continued.

"'Stubborn'?" Ice echoed.

"And seeing you work with them instead of just being their commander has made me realise that everyone has some good in them." Uran finished.

"Wait, are you saying I wasn't good before?" Green blinked.

"Well, I'm not sure. You did help save Kanto from Team Rocket after all, but you did so only when your family was targeted, or when you were attacked directly." Uran frowned. "Though I don't think that's the best way to do things, it gives you reason and power to fight to the very end. Just . . . try to find another reason to fight, other than yourself or your family. There may come a time when such a thing is needed, after all."

"Right . . ." Green mumbled.

"I will be taking my leave now." Uran bowed slightly, but Green didn't return the gesture. He didn't know if he even could.

The old man went out the same door he came through, leaving the three alone in the Gym again.

" . . . Well, we got the badge." Ice said. "Let's go."

"Doesn't anyone think it's weird?" Amethyst asked as they went out.

"What's weird?" Green blinked, looking down at her in his arms.

"That guy said stuff like he was predicting the future." The rock type huffed. "As if he knew something was gonna happen! That's just plain weird to me."

Green exchanged a quick look with Ice, and then glanced back at Amethyst.

"I guess so, but maybe he was just being an old guy?" Ice shrugged. "They tend to speak weirdly sometimes. Even Green's Grandpa did it. Mainly to amuse the younger pokemon, but he did do it."

"I still think we should remember what Uran said." Amethyst said firmly.

"Alright, we will." Green rolled his eyes a little. "Just not that much. We gotta focus on doing whatever it is we're gonna do."

"Go to Azalea town and get an Apricorn ball from Kurt to use on Tick, collect badges, meet up with Red and Blue in the same place." Ice listed. "Anything I'm missing?"

"How about you tell me what an Alpha pokemon is?" Green asked.

"To explain that I'd have to tell you what an Omega is, and maybe I'd explain some other stuff if you want." Ice scoffed.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Tomorrow." Amethyst interrupted them. "Today, we make it to the pokemon centre outside of Union Cave and rest there. Then you can talk."

"Alright, alright. Let's get back to the pokemon centre here and pick up Twin and Tick, then we can go." Green said.

The two pokemon nodded, so he picked up the pace.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Yes, the real fight in-game was more difficult with Ice VS Pidgey. Mainly because he wasn't a rock type like Amethyst. And yes, it did take one hit for Amethyst to take down the Pidgeotto. I just put in the whole 'short fight before the end' thing because in-game it was stupid to watch the dumb bird use Tackle and then get killed with a single Rock Throw.

Green: You're making up random stuff just so you can have a plot.

Renny: This thing already has a plot! And finally we're out of Violet city! God, this thing spent more chapters in that city then in anything else. Not sure how I can make Azalea town work, but you've got that thing with the Team in the Slowpoke well, so . . . maybe I'll drag it out for a few chapters like this one.

Red: When do me and Blue get back into this?

Renny: Whenever they get to Azalea. Green and his team, that is. By the way, there's gonna be a little surprise next chapter. A change in POV, it'll last for a few chapters, but it'll go back to normal afterwards. Though I might do it again if enough people like it. Anyway! Read, review and comment!


	10. Chapter 10- Alpha And Omega

Renny: I'll keep this short because I don't want to lose any ideas I have. Disclaimer?

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

My name is Ice, and I'm a Totodile currently under the 'possession' of Green Oak. Yes, him. The guy who used to abuse his pokemon, but he still doesn't think that he did that. Though everyone he meets says he does, Green still thinks that all he did was pick and choose strong pokemon, and train them to be the best.

It's hard to say he's a bad person if you actually listen to him. If he wanted a strong pokemon, he'd set out to find one. That's what I'd call dedication. But he went a little overboard, I think. I doubt he even realised what he was doing until everyone on the planet and Oak called him out about it. Trouble is, that kid's . . . extremely sensitive, even if he tries to hide it. He's getting better, and that weird little episode he had where he wasn't talking to anyone has thankfully gone away, but Twin, Amethyst and I are being careful to watch out for another one.

He's sensitive, a bit of a jerk, and unstable. He also has a past that involves a massive scar on his torso. One day I'm sure the kid'll probably figure out that we know, but until then, me and the girls are gonna try and keep it a secret that we know his secret. A bit weird to think about, isn't it?

Hopefully with Tick around, he'll get better though. I know with a scar like that, it probably burns when something hard or whatever touches it, but with Tick . . . Togepi have healing powers, so I'm hoping that maybe the scar will fade away because of the little guy.

I'm also beginning to form an idea as to how he got it. The scar, I mean. Amethyst said that her old Trainer had been in an accident four years ago, and he could no longer train pokemon. Thanks to Twin's observation skills, I know that the scar that Green had was made by a Guillotine. My idea? Both events are somehow connected. With a scar like that, it would have taken a long time, four years perhaps, to actually get somewhat better, even to the point that it is now. Hence why I'm having my suspicions.

But enough about the kid. I'm sure you get enough of that from pretty much everyone we meet, though they haven't tried to read into what he does at all.

I'm sure you think I'll tell you all that I lied to him about some stuff. Well, I didn't. Pokemon don't lie unless we absolutely have to, so I guess it's a good thing that humans can't understand the non-psychic types, isn't it? What I said about the Meowth was true as well. I remember how she came in, and what she said, almost like it had happened about an hour ago . . .

About four or five months back, when Green was going around Kanto. I'd hatched from my Egg four years before that, and my 'birth day' (I don't know why Oak made a big deal about it) was coming up. A few days before that, though, a crying Meowth with scratches all over her body was brought in by a sighing and exasperated Oak.

He set her down and all of us went over to her to see what was wrong. She was crying too badly to actually talk, and everyone crowding around wasn't doing much good. So I took charge, as I generally did among my peers.

"Alright, back off!" I snapped at the other pokemon. "She needs some space, so stay over there alright?"

The others nodded without question and went over to a corner to wait patiently. I was always a bit shocked at how much authority I had, being the third oldest there. I ignored them and went back to the Meowth.

"Are you ok?" I asked her.

"N-no . . . H-he's mean!" The cat yowled loudly.

"Who is?"

"The-the kid with green eyes!" She sobbed. "He s-said I was useless to him an-and he made me do stuff I didn't want to, he forced me to fight my own mother!"

"Green eyes?" I murmured. "That's Oak's Grandson, Green."

"He was mean!" The Meowth cried. "He . . . He didn't let me rest . . ."

"Well, if he said you were useless to him, then surely this is better?" I asked her, confused. At the time I didn't understand what was wrong, because if he didn't want her, then she could just hang around with us.

"No . . . Y-you don't understand . . . I-I hate being useless!" The Meowth whimpered to me. "He said it like I was never going to be a good pokemon, like I was some sort of crippled freak! He's . . . I hate him!"

After a few minutes I managed to calm her down, but there was a rage inside of myself that refused to calm down. Silly and cliché, I know, but that's exactly what happened. That's how it started.

After that, a few more pokemon came in with almost the exact same story, though some had been spared and were sent to the box straight away, or back to Oak's place if Green forgot his password again. Occasionally he put away his main team, or parts of it, and they told stories of how badly he treated them, and how he forced them to work harder than what they should have done. Even though they once got swapped with Red by accident, they didn't get much of a rest the second Green got them back.

I'd hated the little brat.

So when Oak called out to the group at the lab and said that Green was going to learn to work with his team instead of against them, like he normally did, I volunteered to be his new starter immediately. Even when Oak told me about the higher death rate, and how I was in danger of dying more often than a normal pokemon, I didn't care. All I wanted was for that kid to see some justice, one way or another.

At first, I stuck to it. But then, with the incident with Twin and her flock, I saw him break down. I had thought he wasn't human before that, because of how he treated others, but seeing him react like that to the unnamed Spearow's death . . . It stopped me in my tracks.

But for some reason I didn't stop being mean to him. It wasn't until I refused to fight for him, refused to acknowledge him, that he actually broke down completely. I'm not sure what happened with him, all I could do was listen to him from inside my pokeball. I tuned him out because he was probably going to cry, and when I woke up I was inside of the room he was sleeping in, at the pokemon centre.

It was awkward. Amethyst was the first one to react, and she growled at Green and turned her back on him. I saw his eyes and body shake slightly, but he did nothing. Then I realised that you couldn't force him to change, he had to be guided. Helped. Green was the sort of person to listen and learn through kindness rather than hatred. Then after at the breakfast . . . well, you all know what happened.

He's changed. I know he has. He's still stubborn and all that, like when he got the badge from Oswald, but he's not as bad now. Before he was insufferable, and I thought maybe I should politely ask a Bellsprout to Vine Whip me to death before Green got me killed instead. But now I'm trying to work on him, trying to teach him to be friends, and all that lot.

I'm also teaching him what Alpha and Omega pokemon are. The words in the book are difficult for him to understand, and Twin and Amethyst can't even read. Tick can't read either, he's only about three days old.

Oh, sorry, did I skip ahead? Yeah, about that . . . Nothing really happened before we got to the pokemon centre outside of Union Cave. We battled a few trainers, and some of them were actually nice to Green, but that was only because they somehow didn't know who he was. Those that did were hostile and wanted him gone, so that's partly why we made it to the pokemon centre in less than five hours.

Anyway, I'm currently reading out what's in the book in more simple language, because seriously, Green and the others have no idea what half of it says.

"An Alpha pokemon is a type of pokemon who's slightly more powerful, and occasionally larger, then average. They also have the ability to use their attacks differently. Example; an Alpha Rattata has darker fur then a normal Rattata, and is also larger and has sharper teeth. When the Alpha Rattata uses a Hyper Fang, it doesn't bite the opponent like a normal Rattata would, instead making a fake jaw set out of nowhere, and controlling it by using its own mouth." I read. Of course, all of that was said with massive and complicated stuff, but I made it less . . . science-y. "Sometimes there is a normal pokemon who is bigger than an Alpha pokemon, but other than that, nothing else. They are still a normal pokemon. Alpha pokemon are highly regarded as almost royalty in pokemon groups, or flocks, or even among the wild pokemon who have no such instinct for traveling in a group.

"The first Alpha that humans discovered was that of a huge Ursaring. It was considerably darker and had sharper teeth and claws, according to reports, and was larger than the normal Ursaring. After that time, many more were found, and eventually scientists named this an Alpha pokemon."

"That's a bit weird." Green murmurs. "So, bigger and stronger pokemon are Alphas, but sometimes they're not? How do you tell the difference?"

"Maybe Twin can tell us. She's an Alpha herself." I say, nodding to the Pidgey in question.

"The difference between the peasant pokemon and us Alpha pokemon is that we Alphas are more adept in combat." Twin says briskly. "Also that there are lots of subtle differences in appearance, as the paper thing has said."

"That 'paper thing' is called a book." I say. She refuses to actually say the real name for it, because for some reason it offends her. Maybe because she used to live in trees, and that's what the book is made from?

"That's nice and all, but we sort of figured that out." Green says dryly. He was replying to Twin, so of course I didn't get angry at him.

"So, what about this 'Omega' thing?" Amethyst asks me.

I turn another page in the book and come up to a few pages on Omega pokemon. There's also a diagram showing the differences, but I ignore that and look at the words. After a few seconds of reading, I look back up and continue speaking to the group in front of me.

"An Omega pokemon is generally smaller than the average pokemon, but lighter coloured and more agile, but their moves are still the same as normal pokemon. An example; an Omega Vulpix would be smaller, lighter furred, and faster than a normal Vulpix." I tell them. "Like the Alpha pokemon, Omega pokemon are also slightly more powerful than normal, although they are viewed as the Omega pokemon because of their smaller structure. This results in the Omega pokemon having a sort of second-in-command role to the Alpha pokemon. Another example of an Omega would have been the Pidgey that Oswald used in the Gym battle."

"Anything else?" Green asks.

"That's pretty much all you need to know. Everything else would be gibberish to you three." I say, smirking a little.

"I am not an idiot." Twin snaps at me.

"Then explain what perusal means."

" . . ."

I feel smug, but I drop my smirk and sigh at her.

"See what I mean? This is why I'm the one reading this out and you're not." I tell the stubborn Pidgey.

"Ok, we get it, none of us are as smart as you are." Green says, waving his hand about airily. "So basically, we can tell how strong a pokemon is depending on whether or not it's an Alpha, Omega, or normal one, then?"

"This is useful stuff." I hum, closing the book and placing it down. "Too bad we can't take it away or anything. We could have used it."

"Well, it's not a library, and I doubt we'd even be able to return it in a designated time." Green shrugs. "Besides, we have you, so why would we need it?"

"Yes, you do seem to know a lot about this subject." Twin says, closing her eyes and yawning lightly. "Now, if you would all please excuse me, I would rather be sleeping at this hour."

"Oh come on, it's only ten!" Amethyst laughs.

"_At night_."

"She is right, you know." Green murmurs, picking up a sleeping Tick and cradling him gently. "We should go back to our room for now. I'm sure the Nurse doesn't appreciate hearing us talk and stuff."

"No, I don't mind." The Nurse smiles from a few feet away. "It's nice to finally know that someone can understand pokemon."

"At a cost." Green mutters. The Nurse doesn't hear him though. I roll my eyes and smile at the Nurse briefly, before turning back to the others.

"Alright, let's go upstairs." I say.

They nod, and get up. Amethyst asks to be returned to her ball so she doesn't have to walk up the stairs on her arms again, and Green complies without much of a complaint. See? He is getting better, he just needs time. If we'd have been with the old Green, the one through Kanto, he would have forced her to walk on her own. We go upstairs and finally find our room after a few minutes of wandering around (Green forgot the number again. I'll have to make a note to try and tutor him in Maths, and maybe English as well . . .), and entered without any sounds so we don't wake up the neighbours.

"How much are you willing to bet that everyone thinks I'm crazy?" Green asks, after he closed the door.

"Crazy? What do you mean?" I frown.

Green sets down Tick on a small cot made for baby pokemon, and then lets out Amethyst so she can crawl onto the table to sleep. Twin flies up to the post thing that was stuck inside the room for her, and Green sits on the bed.

"I mean . . . I saw a few people looking at me like I was weird or something, earlier today." Green confesses, as I climb onto the bed with him. "I was talking to you lot at that time as well . . ."

"Hey, they're probably just jealous you can understand us." I shrug. "Don't worry about it, kid."

"Yes, and now that you have reassured the child that he is not insane, can you _please_ go to sleep?" Twin snaps from her post.

"Well, we'd better not make the birdie even angrier." I chuckled. Green smiles a little, and gets into the bed, and I quickly hop onto the pillow before he steals the whole thing again.

"Hey, Ice?"

I open my eyes, wondering when I closed them, and look at Green. He looks a little nervous, as if he's about to say something incredibly embarrassing.

"Yeah?" I murmur.

"I . . . wanted to say . . . um, thanks." The kid coughs a little. Yep, this is definitely embarrassing for him.

"Thanks for what exactly?" I ask.

"For . . . for helping me. You know, to change and all of that . . ." Green says. "And well . . . for fighting for me."

" . . . I did say that as long as you change, no matter how slowly, I'll fight by your side." I smile at him. "So don't worry, you don't need to thank me for doing what I want to do."

"Yeah, I know. I just felt like I needed to say it."

"Well, you have. Goodnight, kid."

"'Night, Ice."

**oooo**

**-The next morning, outside of Union Cave-**

The entrance stood in front of us, being intimidating and evil looking, as caves generally do. Twin seemed to be the only one who was worried out of the five of us, but that's understandable since she's a flying pokemon.

"Do we actually have to go in?" The Alpha Pidgey asks. "We could just go around it. It is really no feathers off my tail if we go over or around it."

"But this is the only way to get to Azalea town." Green protests, looking at the map the Nurse had been so kind to give to us. "If we go over the mountain, we'll end up in Goldenrod straight away."

"Yeesh, how big is this hunk of rock, anyway?" I mutter, clawing a chunk of said 'hunk of rock'.

"Not sure. This thing says about thirty or so miles." Green says, staring at the map with a strange look on his face. "Or does that say twenty? I'm not even sure anymore . . ."

I sigh and hop onto his shoulder so I can get a look myself. The numbers on the map say that the mountain is about a two day trek if we were to go over or around it, which would probably be around . . . fifty miles or so, maybe? I'm not even sure, I have no idea, and distances aren't really my stuff. Hey, don't judge! I'm a pokemon, not a hiker.

"Ok, if we went around or over this thing, we'd be at Goldenrod in two days. However, since we're aiming to get to Azalea to A- get a pokeball for Tick, and B- get the next Gym badge, we're going through it, which will take us half a day if we don't stop." I explain, jumping down.

"And with reasoning like that, you can't really argue, Your Majesty." Amethyst says to Twin. Honestly, it's nice that Ame likes her and all, but I think she's sort of overdoing it with the whole 'Your Majesty' getup.

" . . . Fine, we will go through the Hell Hole." Twin mutters.

"I wouldn't call it that." Green says. "The strongest pokemon here is Onix, and it doesn't even have any rock moves yet, according to the level thing on the pokedex."

"And I also happen to know a pokemon who can help us through in half the time!" Amethyst grins.

We all stare at her, minus Tick who's looking at some passing Ekans.

"What?" The Geodude asks.

"You know someone from here?" Green frowns. "But you came from Dark Cave, didn't you?"

"Well, the Onix sometimes burrow into Dark Cave by accident." Amethyst laughs. "And that makes tunnels that connect Dark Cave to Union Cave, and I met a few pokemon from this place. One of them is a Zubat by the name of Wave. He usually spends his time around this entrance, because he likes the feel of air on his skin."

"A Zubat?" Green murmurs. "Weak, but their evolutions are useful."

"He also doesn't want a Trainer." Amethyst calls quickly.

"Ah, oh well." The kid shrugs. "I've got enough pokemon anyway. So, can you find this 'Wave' for us?"

Amethyst nods and turns to the cave. She inspects it for a moment, and just as I am about to ask her what she's doing, she calls out loudly.

"WAVE! I NEED SOME HELP HERE! MY FRIENDS AND I WANT TO GET THROUGH THIS CAVE, CAN YOU SHOW US THAT SHORTCUT OF YOURS!?"

"_Amethyst? That you?"_

"YEAH, IT'S ME! WAVE, COME ON, HELP US OUT HERE!" Amethyst shouts.

"_I was gonna, don't worry!"_

A small Zubat flutters out of the cave a few seconds later. He stretches and flaps in the air for a few more seconds, and then lets out a small screech and lands in front of Amethyst, grinning widely.

"Hey, Ame! S'up?" He asks. His voice is hissing and sounds shaky, but it doesn't seem like he has any difficulty in talking. It's probably just how he sounds.

"Hey, Wave." Amethyst greets him. "These are my new friends. I'm on their team!"

"A team, eh? I always knew you'd find someone." Wave laughs. He lets out another small screech and turns to us. "So, who are they?"

"The human is called Green. The Totodile is Ice, the Pidgey is Twin, who is also an Alpha, and the little baby is called Tick Tock, though we call him Tick for short." Amethyst explains.

"An Alpha, eh? Well, then. I'm Wave, an Omega Zubat. Pleasure to meet you all, and I hope that for your sake I don't get hungry for living blood at any point."

His words make Twin and I freeze. Then, after a few seconds, he starts laughing. We join in nervously, but Amethyst just sighs. Green has no idea what's being said, but that doesn't matter.

"Wave, please stop scaring anyone that comes in." She mutters. "This is why everyone else ran away the last time you talked to them."

"Hey, their fault. Besides, rock types don't even have blood, so I dunno why they even ran." Wave smirks. He gets up into the air and spins a little, letting out another screech.

By now I should probably tell you why he's doing that. See, Zubat, until evolution, have no eyes, and are therefore blind. So, instead of having it as a weakness, they make do with it and use their sound abilities to help them 'see'. Wave used his sonic screeches several times to 'see' stuff, so to speak. That's why most Zubat are seen screeching whenever they move or something, so they can check if anything's in the way. Similarly, the screech can also be used to 'see' what things look like, but in a sort of warped kind of way. That's really all I know on the subject.

"Anyway, the way to my little secret tunnel is just a couple of hours into the cave." Wave says, pausing one wings fast-paced flapping to point inside the cave, before resuming. "I'll show you the way to the little tunnel, and then it'll take about half an hour to get through it, and then you'll be at the other side and at the little town of ninja people!"

"Ninja?" Twin blinks. "What is a ninja?"

"Hard to explain." Green tells her. "I'll probably show you a picture or something whenever we get out. Speaking of which, what's he saying?"

" . . . He can't understand me?" Wave frowns, turning back after another screech. "Why? He can understand you lot just fine, right?"

"Only pokemon he's caught." Amethyst explains.

" . . . Ah. That's troublesome . . ." Wave sighs. "Ok, how about I make a deal? Until we get out of the cave, I'll let the little kid catch me, if it means he can understand me. That way none of you have to be translator, right?"

I relay the message to Green, who nods a little.

"I'll release him when we get out." Green says to us. Wave nods and allows Green to catch him, and then instantly comes back out.

"Arceus, I hate those things." Wave shudders.

"Why? Tight space?" Green asks, looking at the ball in his hands.

"Ah, so he can understand me." Wave says. "And yeah, tight spaces don't really sit well with me. It means less space to fly around in and also . . . it confuses my rays."

"Makes sense."

"Anyway, we should get going now." I say, interrupting their little conversation.

Wave screeches and goes back to the cave, then turns around again. "You coming, or what?"

"Yep!" Amethyst smiles.

We all follow the Zubat into Union Cave, and for a second I hope that maybe we can somehow make this trip a little shorter. But I suppose that going through somewhere less than half the amount of time to get to the other side is better, mainly because it'd take us ages to get out with Green's navigation skills. I glance at Twin and see she looks grumpy, but she won't complain anytime soon I think, probably because of the promise that we'd get out sooner than expected.

Soon enough, the entrance disappears behind us, and we're heading right into the Union Cave with a Zubat to guide us.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Told you it'd be something different. If you liked it, I'll do another one next chapter, with Green or Twin, whichever one you lot want. If not, then I'll just go back to the normal POV thing, ok?

Green: I think they get it, Renny.

Renny: Awesome. Read, review and comment!


	11. Chapter 11- Evolution And Backstories

Renny: This chapter, or at least bits of it, is gonna be funny~ Probably. Ehehe, trouble is, unlike just about everyone I know, I do this part of the A/N before the actual story is written, so half the time I might say something is gonna be in a chapter and it won't be . . . Oh well, this is definitely gonna have a grumpy Green in it, don't worry. Also, some surprises!

Green: Stop giving away spoilers!

Renny: Hush you. Anyway, I think it's Red's turn for the disclaimer, right? Red?

Red: Hm? Oh, Renny doesn't own pokemon! Are you gonna put me and Blue in this one?

Renny: That'd be telling. On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

My name's Green Oak, but surely you already know that. And if you do, save your breath, and do me a favour? Don't yap on about how I used to abuse pokemon and all that. I know what I did, and . . . I don't like it. Ok? Sorry about the little outburst . . .

A-anyway, we're currently walking through Union Cave. It's been about an hour or so, and Twin just _will not shut up about this place_. Seriously, she was fine a while back, why is she complaining now!?

. . . I'm getting mad again. Sorry.

She's driving everyone insane. Even Ame, who usually loves to hear 'Her Majesty' talk about whatever it is they talk about. Tick seems to be the only one who doesn't even mind, he just looks at the walls passing by and points out random 'shin-ey ha-d sto-ny stuff', as he put it. I think that meant 'shiny hard stony stuff', but I'm not sure. A four day old pokemon is difficult to understand most of the time . . . Though Ice says with his psychic abilities, he'll be talking properly, if not still child-like, in a few days or so.

Carrying on about the cave thing, we've been here an hour. Oh, I've already said that? Sorry, I forgot . . . Uh, anyway. I'm a bit spacy right now, so forgive me, Twin won't shut up. If I get annoyed with something and it doesn't go away then I have the stupid habit of not noticing stuff or forgetting other stuff . . . It's annoying to me, and to pretty much everyone else. Thankfully it doesn't happen often.

"Are we there yet?" Ice groans from my head.

"I have no idea." I reply flatly. "Wave, we there yet!?"

"Almost." The Zubat hisses back. His voice is cool, but sometimes it's like he was meant to be an Ekans or something instead of a bat. "Just a little farther . . ."

"Honestly, this place is disgusting and repulsive!" Twin cries yet again. "Will one of you please kindly tell me why I agreed to this?"

"You could just go back into your ball." I tell her, hoping she'll take me up on the offer.

"I _refuse_. That ball is the bane of my existence, and I will not go into it. I have already established that, and I shall refuse every single time, unless you can come up with a very good reason as to why I have to go into that accursed _prison_-"

Well, at least she isn't complaining about the cave anymore.

I sigh and look at Tick, who's resting in my arms. By now he's fallen asleep, and I can't help but smile at him. To be honest, when he first called me 'Mama', I was shocked that a _pokemon_ of all things would consider me something that . . . well, close. But I've gotten used to it, which is more than I could say for the old me. If the old me had been able to understand pokemon, and he'd had a pokemon that called him 'Mama', he would have thrown it out.

I think it's weird how I think of the old me as a separate person. That's weird, right? Yeah, it's totally weird. Like there's two people in my head, but the second one is sort of . . . not there, if you get my meaning. Wait, of course you don't, you don't understand my mind. Heck even I don't, so don't feel too bad.

"Hey, kid, how about we stop here for a bit?" Ice suggests.

"Wha- Now?" I splutter. "But we're only an hour and whatever in! Why not when we get to the tunnel thing?"

"Actually we can just rest here." Wave says, screeching a little and then landing on the ground in front of Ame, who had stopped and is now 'sitting' on the ground.

I sigh and sit down as well, leaning against the wall so then I don't have to make myself sit up. Ice slides down from my head and walks over to one of the rocks nearby, and starts using Scratch on it, as if he's marking something.

"Ice, what're you doing?" I ask him. Tick snuffles something in his sleep, and Twin seems to be relieved that we've stopped.

"Training." He replies.

"Um, you can't train and level up on a rock."

"You can, actually. Oak didn't tell you?" Ice frowns, looking back.

"No." I murmur. "Great, so basically I've been beating up random pokemon when all I could have done was just break a few trees."

"Actually it's better to go against wild pokemon." Ice explains, turning around. "That way a trained pokemon can learn how to defend itself, and the Trainer themselves can learn to battle effectively with them. Attacking inanimate objects for training is one way of honing skills and quick level-ups if you're bored."

" . . . And this is exactly why I don't need a book." I smile. "Why would I need a stinky piece of paper when I've got the expert right here?"

"I'm still shocked the old man didn't tell you." Ice sighs. He rolls his eyes and goes back to attacking the rocks for a bit.

I turn my attention to Twin, who's basically just staring at the ceiling for whatever reason. Not sure why, maybe she's just wondering how best to blast the ceiling apart so she can get out? Actually, that gives me an idea . . .

"Hey, Twin?"

"Yes?" She turns her head towards me, her expression curious but flat. Not sure how that works, but somehow she manages it.

"Are you claustrophobic?" I ask.

"What is 'claustrophobic'?" The Pidgey frowns.

Ice turns around again from his assault on the poor rocks, and explains.

"Claustrophobia is a fear of tight or small spaces. Like a pokeball or this cave, or something. Though the cave isn't that tight." Ice hums. "Most birds do have fears of small spaces, or enclosed ones, probably because they belong to the sky or something. I'd guess that includes you."

" . . . As degrading as this is, yes." Twin admits. "I do not like small spaces or caves at all."

"So that's why you won't go into the ball." I say. Then I remember the amount of times I forced my Pidgeot into the pokeball, and feel guilty about how much terror the poor thing must have gone through.

"Green? What's wrong?" Ame asks.

"Uh . . ."

_They're all looking at me like I did something bad_.

"You look like you just remembered something horrible." Ice says.

"Lemme guess, you had a bird before and you kept it in its ball." Wave says.

". . . Yes . . ." I murmur. "And I feel horrible about it now."

"Well, you can apologise when we get to Azalea." Ice tells me. "Add that to the list of 'stuff we need to do in Azalea'. By the time we get out of here, it'll be huge . . ."

"So long as you acknowledge it." Wave shrugs. "Anyway, who's up for some Eye-Spy?"

"What's Eye-Spy?" I ask him.

" . . . This kid don't get out much, does he?" The Zubat sighs.

"Seriously, what's Eye-Spy?"

I think Ame might be about to explain, but she gets interrupted by this massive light all of a sudden. It's white and there's an almost urgent feel to it, and it's coming from where Ice is. Wait a second . . .

"I-Ice!" I yelp, standing up. Tick wakes up and starts crying, and I sit back down quickly and try to calm him down.

"_I'm fine!" _The glowing ball calls. Everyone halts in their movement towards it and stares.

"Ice?" Ame blinks. "Are you ok?"

"He's evolving." Wave says softly. "In all my life, I've only felt a pokemon evolve once . . . You never forget it."

Evolving? Oh right! I can't believe I forgot about that! Ice must have been close to evolving when we came in, so that was why he was training. Makes sense. It must have slipped my mind, I think, because I'm just used to them all being small pokemon. I wonder what he'll evolve into?

The light eventually dies down, along with Tick's cries, and Ice stands up in his new form.

He's a heck of a lot bigger than a Totodile. Almost as big as I am, though I'm still a bit bigger. There are red spikes on his head now, and his jaw seems to have gotten thicker and has a yellow colouration to it, with some sharp teeth sticking out, and his stomach is yellow as well, with some patches of blue. His tail is thicker as well, and also has a single red spike that looks like a diamond near the tip. On his back are more of the red spikes.

"Well, this is new." Ice mutters. He still sounds the same as before, thank Mew.

"Wow." I gasp. "What . . . are you?"

"Look on the pokedex." He says, laughing a little. "I can't tell you everything, can I? You need to find stuff out on your own."

True. I take out the device and tap in some keys, and then the pokedex scans Ice's new form. A few seconds later it beeps and I tap the screen again, and then the new information comes up.

'_Croconaw; the Big Jaw pokemon. A Croconaw is an adept hunter, because of its incredibly sharp teeth. If a Croconaw catches its prey, it will not let go until it is satisfied, or if the prey is dead. A Croconaw also has at least 48 fangs lining its mouth, and if one were to be removed or lost, it will grow back.'_

Well, that's . . . terrifying.

"Croconaw." I say. "You evolved into a Croconaw."

"That's right, kid." Ice looks proud of himself. "I'm pretty sure Twin'll evolve soon as well, but it won't be as impressive as mine, I'll bet."

" . . . Please don't tell me you've suddenly gotten arrogant now that you've evolved." Ame sighs.

"No, just joking." Ice chuckles. "I'll never be arrogant, I know my limits."

That sounds like something what I said long ago. Although, I didn't say I wasn't arrogant . . . Heck, at the time, I knew I was arrogant. I could afford to be that way, because everyone was . . . watching me.

**oooo**

**-A while later, outside of Union Cave-**

"Are you sure you don't wanna come with us?" Ame asks again.

Wave shakes his head and yawns, then screeches and flies into the air. He turns to me and raises a would-be eyebrow.

"How do you release a pokemon?" He asks in his hissing voice.

"Uh, well . . . If the pokemon is outside of the ball when this button it pressed, then that pokemon is released." I say, holding up the ball even though he can't see it. "Same if you break the ball when the pokemon's outside of it. Both ways you can release a pokemon, and both ways make the ball basically useless and unable to be used again."

"Which is why I wanted to break it." Ice says. I still can't get used to his new form, but I'll probably get used to it sooner or later. "I'm gonna try out a move I've been wanting to try ever since I evolved."

"You evolved like an hour ago." Ame says.

"Yeah, but it gave me time to think." Ice shrugs. "Anyway, Wave. Thanks for helping us out."

"No probs, dudes and dudettes. Also little baby." The Zubat grins. "If you ever need help navigating this place again, call me. See you!"

"Ba-bee batty!" Tick cries out.

He leaves, and I'm left wondering why he didn't stick around to make sure that I actually do release him.

"He trusts you." Ame says, as if she's reading my mind. "Sometimes I think he's a bit too trusting, if a little bit scatter-brained . . . But that's the perk of being Wave, I guess."

"How did you know what I was thinking?" I ask, handing the ball to Ice.

"It was on your face." Ame smiles.

I shrug and turn to Ice, who's holding the ball in both hands gently. He closes his eyes for a few seconds, and the air seems to be getting colder. Though the coldness seems to be coming from Ice himself . . .

"Watch what I do, you lot." He murmurs, eyes still closed. "This move is called 'Ice Fang'."

He opens his jaws wide, and I can see all forty-eight fangs. I shudder when they all start to turn into ice for some reason, and then they harden again and I can clearly see the cloudy frost coming from them, giving a mist-like quality to Ice's jaw. Then the newly evolved Croconaw suddenly chomps down on the pokeball, and it freezes for a split second. Then it breaks in his jaws and crumbles to the ground as if it was made from shards of tiny little ice.

"Wow." Ame breaths. "That's . . . really cool. No pun intended."

"Keep that jaw away from me." Twin sniffs, flying into the air. "I do not wish to have my bones shattered by that . . . move."

"I wouldn't use it against you, unless you were going nuts." Ice says. "So don't worry, Princess."

Twin scoffs something, and then starts off down the road. I stare after her for a few seconds, and she eventually comes back, an embarrassed look on her face.

"I do not know which way it is to town." She mumbles.

"Well, I wonder how much pride you had to kill to say that." Ice says dryly.

"Be nice." I sigh. I take out the map again and look at the point where we are now, and look at the point where Azalea town is. "According to this, Twin was actually going in the right direction. Azalea's just past those trees."

"Awesome!" Tick yells. He's slowly learning words and how to say them properly thanks to Ice, I remember. He's smart.

"Alright then, let's get going." Ice says, starting off in the direction Twin had gone in.

As we're walking, I can't help but go back to the Gym battle over and over in my head. I dunno why, but seeing two flying pokemon sort of made me think about it. I glance over at Twin, who's flying just above me, and decide to ask her what I've been wondering for the past day or two.

"Hey, Twin?" I call.

The Alpha Pidgey looks down and glides to my side, though she stays in the air.

"Yes?" She asks. "What is it, child?"

"Um . . . How did you become leader in your flock?" I ask her.

"That is a complicated question. Do you wish to hear the full answer, or just a shortened version?" Twin offers.

"Well . . . The shortened one sounds better, but I'd like to know the full story." I say. Twin nods and looks ahead, where Ice is walking, and an almost wistful look appears in her eyes.

"I was fourth in line to be the next leader, or Queen as the flock called it." She explains. "My Father was the King at the time, and first in line to take the role from his was my eldest brother, Soberon. Second in line was my older sister, Reyna, and third would have been my second eldest brother, Rutarian. However, one by one, all of my siblings were captured by humans, and as such I became first in line, in fact the only Pidgey to take the role from my Father. Then one day, a human with blue . . . hair, is it? Yes, blue hair, came and captured my Father in one of his little red and white balls. After, I went through the Rite of Passage, a sort of ceremony that humans would not understand at our level, and then became the new Queen of the flock."

"And . . . then I caught you." I murmur. "So who'll be the new leader?"

"Uncertain." Twin hums. "My second family may take over, or the flock may disperse and become like the wilds that live in other Pathways. I am not certain. However, I am vaguely glad you have captured me."

"Ah, well then." I smile a little. Then I drop it, confused. "Wait, you only said 'Father' and 'King'. What about the Queen? Your Mother?"

"She had passed away a year ago." Twin says. "Do not fret, I was never close with her, as per rules from my flock. A Mother and her chicks will only be close for one season, when the chicks are then old enough to stray from her side. Afterwards, the Mother is to be distant. Though I did mourn her passing, as did the rest of the flock, I did not care much for her."

"Well . . . That's a bit cruel, don't you think?" I frown. "In human culture, a child stays with their mother until they're an adult, which is . . . somewhere around twenty or eighteen years old."

"How old are you, Green?"

"Eleven, almost twelve." I tell her.

"In pokemon culture, that would be considered an adult." She mutters.

"How old are you then?"

"Seven."

Ok, so basically in human years she'd be seven, but in her own years she'd be around seventeen? Great, another pokemon who's technically older than me. First Ice, who's basically fifteen in pokemon years, then Ame, who's fourteen, and now Twin, who's seventeen of all ages. Only Tick's younger than me, though he'll grow faster within a few days.

"What is wrong?" Twin asks.

"It's just . . . nearly everyone on this team is older than me." I sigh. "Only Tick's younger, and he'll be technically older in two or three years."

"That makes you second youngest, then?"

"Yep."

"Well, I would say if you ever find a Motherly pokemon, they would most likely 'baby you', so to speak." Twin smirks.

"I get enough of that from Daisy." I mutter.

"Daisy?"

"My older sister." I explain. "She loves me, and I love her, but sometimes she goes a bit overboard with it all."

"Better than not having sibling love, yes?" Twin says. "And before you ask, no, my siblings did not hate me. In fact, they very much 'babied' me, like your own sister does to you."

"Well, at least I know your backstory." I smile a little. "I know everyone's now."

"What about you?" Twin asks, carefully. "What about your own backstory?"

I stop, and she stops as well. I see Ice and Ame stop walking in the corner of my eyes, but all I can focus on is Twin.

" . . . I'm not ready." I say, loud enough for all of them to hear. "Even I haven't tried to think about it, and if I can't even do that, then what makes you think I can tell anyone? No, I won't tell you my backstory. Not yet, anyway."

" . . . I understand, Green." Twin murmurs. "I will not ask again, if you wish."

"Yeah, thanks . . ."

I can see Ice looking at me with a strange expression, like he's thinking about something I should probably know about. Ame is frowning, though she loudly announces that we should get going instead of standing around. I wonder if they all know something they shouldn't. The only one who doesn't seem to notice the new tension is Tick, although I can excuse that. He is just a baby, after all.

. . . But . . .

I can't think about it. Sometimes I dream about it, but the dream always goes away whenever I wake up, and I can never remember it. All I do remember is the sound of screaming and . . .

And pain.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: So, we all know how old Twin is now, and we know that everyone has some sort of backstory. Though Green's is one that won't be revealed soon, though. Maybe at some point, not now though.

Green: You are so weird.

Renny: Yeah, I know. Anyway, back to normal POV next time! Which means Green's POV, though it'll be in 3rd person. Oh, I have an idea! I'll put it in bold so you lot don't miss it!

**What if I do Special Episodes of a pokemon's backstory? For example, a chapter of Twin when she was in her old flock, or a chapter of Ice or even Amethyst?**

Renny: Anyone? Hm? If you want one, I'll do Twin's chapter after Green gets the second Gym badge, yeah? Read, review and comment! Actually I shouldn't really put the 'comment' thing on, since this doesn't go on DA at all, but it's a tradition.


	12. Chapter 12- Planning

Renny: And now for some angst. Wooo- I know what I said last chapter, but still. Oh well.

Green: . . .

Renny: Disclaimer.

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Outside of Azalea town-**

"So, the place is called Slowpoke Well because Slowpoke live there?" Green said, a little amazed. "Wow. How many?"

"As far as research knows, not that many." Ice said. "But I like to think that there're some secret colonies that don't like to mix with others, buried deep in the caves themselves. Also, the other name would be Rainmaker's Well."

"Right . . . Imagination." Green sighed, glancing at Ice's flat look.

"I'm sorry, but what exactly do you think might be in there, then?" The Croconaw asked, growling a little.

"Well, it's called _Slowpoke Well _for a reason, you know." Green snickered. Tick giggled in his arms. The boy was sort of glad he could make his 'child' happy just by being sarcastic, but he did hope Tick wasn't going to pick up the same habit.

"Oh, your sarcasm cuts me." Ice snapped, rolling his eyes. Though Green knew he wasn't all that mad, just playing for Tick's amusement.

"I'm glad it does. Maybe my sarcasm can cut a tree while it's at it, since I can cut you with it."

"Are saying I'm fat?"

"Are you saying you're not?"

" . . . Touché."

"I fail to see the amusement in your arguments." Twin commented from above them.

"Friendly banter amuses some." Green shrugged, adjusting his grip on Tick. "If it keeps Tick happy, then I'll gladly do it over and over to keep him smiling."

"You're thinking like a Mother would." Amethyst giggled.

"I know, and for some reason I like it." Green laughed back. "I dunno why. Maybe it's something to do with Tick himself?"

"It could be." Ice nodded. "I read a report Oak made on Togepi with Extrasensory once. Apparently their emotions are more fine-tuned then a normal Togepi, and it has something to do with their psychic power. So basically, if an Extrasensory Togepi is happy, then whoever made that Togepi happy is also happy. Get it?"

"So, it is like empathy?" Twin asked.

"Uh, something like that."

"That's actually cool." Green smiled. "I never knew learning from someone else was actually this . . . I dunno, fun and interesting. Ice, you should be a teacher!"

"I'd have to have you translate for me." Ice smirked. "And that would mean speaking in public."

"O-oh. Ok, nevermind, maybe Gra- um, Oak can make something that'll allow others to understand you."

"You're still worried about that." Ice said.

" . . . Yeah." Green sighed. "I just . . . he lied to me! I know it was technically for a good reason, but I hate being lied to!"

"If you do not mind my words, I would suggest meeting your Grandfather at a middle ground, so to speak." Twin told him.

"What!?" Green yelped, looking up in alarm. "But . . . I don't even know if I can face Red and Blue yet, what makes you think I can talk to him!?"

"You're going to have to talk to them all sooner or later." Amethyst said soothingly. "I'd prefer it to be sooner so then you don't forget altogether, or you completely cut yourself away from them."

"He might have to face Red and Blue now, anyway." Ice suddenly muttered.

"What do you mean?" Green swallowed.

"They're walking right over here."

Green glanced up ahead of them. True enough, he could see Red and Blue making their way over to the little group, with two pokemon by their sides. Red's was a bigger version of Cyndaquil, only it had two flames and its eyes were open. Blue's looked like a long-necked Chikorita, with a large leaf that had a hole in and some strange bud-seed things dotted around its neck.

"Pokedex, kid." Ice reminded him, as if reading his mind.

Green jumped and quickly grabbed the pokedex out from his bag. He didn't bother looking at the entries; he would do that later anyway. Apparently the one Red had was a Quilava, and the one Blue had was called Bayleef. Both were evolved forms of Cyndaquil and Chikorita respectively. Looked like he wasn't the only one to evolve his starter.

"Green!" Red called. "Is that you, or is it some dude in a costume!?"

"What is a costume?" Twin questioned, as Green put his pokedex away.

"Something that you can wear to make yourself look like something else." Green explained absently. He raised his voice so Red and Blue could hear him. "Yeah, it's me! Why would you think it's a costume!?"

Red laughed as he stopped in front of the group. "Well, we found a guy who likes to RolePlay a lot, and he was pretending to be you. Really convincing, actually."

"Oh, ok."

A few seconds passed in awkward silence. Eventually, Blue broke it by looking at Ice and grinning widely.

"Hey, Ice evolved as well!" She cried. "Now that's all three of them, heh."

Her Bayleef let out a happy cry as it dashed forward to meet Ice, along with Red's Quilava. For some reason, Green couldn't remember what their names were, although he'd only heard them a few days ago.

"Did these two have names, or . . .?" He asked.

"Yep." Blue nodded. "I changed Chiky's though. She's now Bailey!"

"Bailey? As in Bayleef, or is that just a name?" Green blinked.

"Her name's Bailey forever now. She likes it better than Chiky." Blue shrugged.

"Cool . . . Red?"

"Huh? Oh, uh . . . Quil." Red supplied. "But I dunno what he'll evolve into, so I might have to change that name as well . . ."

"Are you ok, Red?" Blue asked, glancing back at him. "You're a bit spacey."

" . . . Look, I'm really sorry for what happened." Red suddenly burst out. "B-back at the tower I mean. I was being unfair and that almost led to your Pidgey getting killed, and-"

"Red!" Green snapped, interrupting the taller boy. Once he had Red's attention, he carried on. "It's ok. I . . . I should be sorry too, you know. I'm the one who wanted the battle and I was an idiot for being so stupid before as well."

"Well, I wouldn't say stupid. Just stubborn." Red laughed.

"It's my nature." Green shrugged.

"That it is. So, is Ice . . .?" Red trailed off.

"We're fine now. If I try and get better, he'll fight for me." Green said. "That's the deal. We've both been holding up our ends, right?"

"They can't understand me." Ice muttered. "But yes, we have."

"You could at least nod." Green said dryly.

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask!" Blue exclaimed, slamming her fist into an open palm. "Who's the cutie in your arms?"

"Who? Oh, him?" Green held up Tick, who squealed when he saw Red and Blue.

"Mama ma-ck new friends!" The Togepi cried happily.

"Uh, not exactly, Tick." Green mumbled.

"Tick?" Red chuckled. "What kind of name is that?"

"It was a whim, and I suck at names." Green sighed, screwing up his face. "This is why you should never put me in charge of naming stuff. Uh, his full name is actually Tick Tock, by the way."

"You mean, like a clock?" Blue guessed.

"Exactly. Tick liked the one he saw, so I called him Tick Tock." Green nodded.

"Is he a baby then?" Red asked.

"Yeah."

"That makes him even more adorable!" Blue squealed. She took Tick from Green and held him to her chest, cuddling him.

"B-be careful!" Green yelped, panicking slightly. "I'm not sure how strong his shell is . . ."

"When did you become a Mommy?" Red smirked.

"Since he started calling me 'Mama'." Green replied.

"He calls you Mama? Aww, so cute!" Blue cooed. "Hey, I know! Red can be the Daddy!"

"What!? No!" Both boys cried in horror.

"Alright, alright, just a suggestion." Blue muttered. "Here you go, 'Mama'."

"I will skin you alive." Green snapped. He took Tick back gently though, glaring at Blue as he did so. "And next time you wanna hold him, ask."

"Definitely a Mother." Blue nodded.

"Oh shut up, I'd like to see you have a hatchling and look after it." Green said.

Blue held up a hand and opened her mouth to speak, but Green beat her to it.

"Without showering the poor thing with ribbons and talking like an idiot."

If humans could deflate like Koffing, Green was willing to bet all his money that Blue would be the first to do so.

"Thought so." He smirked.

"You know what, I just thought of something." Red suddenly declared. He looked at Blue, frowning. "Green has a Pidgey, which is a bird. I actually didn't pay much attention the first few times, since it was sort of a situation, but I'm wondering now. Why aren't you freaking out? Don't you have ornithophobia?"

"Well . . . I'm getting over it." Blue shrugged. "Before we were asked to come to Johto, Oak was helping me with it. I can now stand in the same room as a bird and not freak out, but the only thing I can't do is battle with one. Hence why I have a Zubat for a flier instead of a bird."

"Zubat?" Amethyst looked up quickly. "Does she mean Wave, or someone else?"

"Um, Blue, what's the gender of the Zubat you caught?" Green asked for her.

"Girl, why?"

"Oh, thank Mew." Amethyst sighed.

"Uh, a Zubat helped us get through Union Cave." Green said, jabbing a thumb backwards. "He was nice and all, but he didn't want a Trainer, so I released him. Amethyst is friends with him, so she thought that you might have caught him."

"We got here a day ago." Red shrugged. "So if you met with that Zubat today, then I don't think Blue would have been able to catch him. But nice to see you considering stuff, right?"

" . . . Is that an insult, or something else?" Green asked. "I can't actually tell."

"I'm just assessing you." Red smiled. "You know, like Elm told me to. So, speaking of assessing, how's it going with the whole journey and team thing?"

"Uh . . ."

"We are fine." Twin said, gliding onto Green's shoulder. "We have made excellent progress during our tour of this region so far."

"I agree with Her Highness!" Amethyst called.

"Yeah, why not?" Ice shrugged.

"What they all said." Green told the other two Trainers.

"Green, we can't understand them." Red reminded him.

"Oh! Sorry, I keep forgetting. Um, Twin said that we're doing fine and all that, and the other two agree with her." Green translated.

"I happy!" Tick cried out.

"And Tick's happy as well."

"Are you telling the truth or lying to make it sound better?" Blue asked, narrowing her eyes comically. Green could tell they both believed him, but he decided to play along for Tick's amusement.

"No, no, I was totally lying. We're doing terrible." He smirked.

"Oh well, that's not very good, is it?" Red sniggered. "How badly?"

"Badly enough that we got a Gym badge." Green shrugged.

"R-really?" Both Trainers cried. They dropped the act and grinned.

"That's awesome!" Blue yelled. "Now we all got it as well!"

"Yeah! Oswald was really nice, as well." Red agreed.

"Really?" Green frowned. "He . . . didn't seem to be like that when I challenged him."

"Oh, he doesn't like people who abused pokemon, does he?" Blue said, as if she'd just remembered something. "Yeesh, it's a wonder you even got the badge."

"His Grandfather came in and made him give it." Green explained.

"Oh, good, I was thinking that we would have had to go all the way back and force it out of him!" Red laughed.

Blue started laughing as well, although Green did say that he'd already gotten the badge. But he decided to let his fellow Trainers (he didn't know if he could call them friends) laugh for a while. They did look like they needed it, anyway. Both of them looked incredibly tired and worn out.

"You know, those two look really tired. What have you been doing?" Ice asked.

Green turned to stare at him. Ice wasn't looking at him though. It took Green a couple of seconds to realise he was talking to Bailey and Quil.

"Quilava, lava quil lava." Quil muttered, looking away.

"Sovereign?" Ice snorted. "What moron's would call themselves that?"

"Bay. Baybay Bayleef bay." Bailey said.

"Out of town? Wow, those guys must mean business." Ice murmured.

"What is it?" Green asked him.

"According to Quil and Bailey, some morons called Team Sovereign have taken over Azalea town." The Croconaw explained, looking up. "When Red and Blue got into town, the whole lot of these Sovereign people ran them out. They've been trying to get in ever since, but no such luck."

"Sovereign . . ." Green mumbled.

"What did you say?" Red yelped. "Sovereign? Green, how do you-"

"Ice told me that Quil and Bailey told him about what happened in Azalea." Green said. "That's all I know. Really."

"Damn, I was hoping you'd know something." Blue sighed. "But yeah, we got run out by those Team Sovereign people. They said something like 'you don't belong here' and then kicked us all out for whatever reason. Each time we tried to get back in, they attacked us ruthlessly."

"Sounds like Team Rocket, but they're gone." Green muttered, putting a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "What did they look like?"

"White amour, mainly black hair, weird looking swords with a blue cloth on the hilt." Red described, doing weird motions for each one. "The sword is what I was worried about the most, actually. Not _one_ of them had a pokemon with them, and all they used were those swords."

"The swords seemed like they had a mind of their own!" Blue cried out. "The cloth moved completely on its own, and I swear I saw one of them _blinking_ at me!"

" . . . So, a living sword?" Green wondered. "That's . . . odd."

"It is not odd, it is downright insane." Twin said with distain. "I have heard of these so-called 'swords' from a few of the flock. They have told tales of metal blades that slice through anything, but they need a holder to work properly. Living swords? Pah."

"Yeah, a living sword." Red muttered over Twin's ramblings. "Me and Blue thought it might have been some sort of pokemon, since there's one that can take over machines, but then we just guessed that it was some sort of weird tech they used to make it look like it was alive."

"So, what do you wanna do about it?" Green asked them.

"We're gonna try and get back in soon." Blue chimed in. "You wanna help? We could do with someone else."

" . . . I dunno, living swords seem . . . a bit creepy. What if they're ghosts?" Green fretted.

"Are you scared of ghosts?" Red asked.

"Uh, sort of."

"Then I dunno." The taller boy shrugged. "But we need help, Green! Right now, out of all three of us, you'd probably be the best bet we have. With a Geodude and a Pidgey, you could do stuff we couldn't! A Geodude might be mistaken for a rock, so this one could sneak in and get info or something. Your Pidgey could do the same, but from the air, passing off as a wild pokemon! Please, Green!"

"Kid, they're practically begging you." Ice added. "Help them, will you? Besides, like he said, you are the only one with two pokemon who could be mistaken for wilds or just rocks."

"I am sorry, I do not want to help these . . . ruffians." Twin sniffed.

" . . . You got no choice, Twin." Green smirked, turning to look at her. "We're helping them, and I don't care what you say."

"What?" Twin gaped.

"You'll help!?" Blue squealed. "Yes, thank you so much!"

"But I wanna ask something first." Green told them.

"Yeah?" Red blinked.

"What're your teams so far?"

"I have Bailey, Batty- my Zubat, and Gassy- my Gastley." Blue said. "Why?"

" . . . Don't let the Gastley out." Green shivered. "Please."

"Wait a second." Red frowned. "I think I remember something about that . . . you've got phasmophobia, right?"

"What's phasmophobia?" Green asked blankly.

"Fear of ghosts." Red explained. "You have it, right?"

"How would he know if he didn't even know what the word meant?" Ice snapped.

"They can't hear you." Green said.

"I wish they could sometimes."

"Do you have it?" Red asked again.

" . . . Maybe? I dunno, I didn't even know the word existed until now." Green shrugged, trying not appear stupid. Not very easy when Red knew something he didn't. Again. "Why is this relevant?"

"It's like Blue's . . . uh, sort of in the past fear of birds." Red said. "It might come back to bite you in the butt, so . . . maybe you should capture one?"

" . . . No." Green commanded. "Just . . . no, ok? Forget all that, and tell me your team. I could come up with some plan to get back in and get rid of those Sovereign people."

"Yeah, alright then." Red murmured. "My team is Quil the Quilava, Woop the Wooper, and Reep the Flaaffy."

"What is it with you and those weird names?" Green sighed. "Nevermind. Ok, not many of those are useful, since we need stealth to do recon and whatever, but as you pointed out, we have Twin and Amethyst for that."

"So what do we do?" Amethyst asked, looking determined. "I'm ready to help out Azalea anytime you're ready!"

"Well, that was inspiring." Green smiled. "And short, but oh well. Ok . . . let's see. We have one fire type, one water type, and one grass type with us. The fire would be too dangerous, and so would water. That leaves grass. Blue, what can Bailey use so far?"

"Um, Tackle, Razor Leaf, Poison Powder and Reflect." Blue ticked off the moves on her fingers.

"We could use Reflect to trap some of the Sovereign." Green hummed. "The rest can be run out by Red and his pokemon. After that, I could go around looking for any more of them, preferably the leader if I can find him or her, and the two of you can interrogate the remaining lot. But before any of that, we send in Amethyst and Twin to do recon and then give them both two hours."

"How long is two hours?" Twin asked.

" . . . And they don't know how to tell time." Green sighed. "Ok, fine. Both of you can just do the recon stuff, and when you hear people screaming, try to find me. How does that all sound?"

There was silence for a while.

"What? It wasn't that bad of a plan, was it?" Green swallowed, recoiling slightly.

"No, it was . . . amazing!" Red grinned. "The plan I had involved a lot more blasting and less of what you said, but I think we could pull off that one if we try!"

"I totally agree, that was probably the best plan I've heard all day." Blue nodded, grinning as well.

"We agree as well." Ice nodded.

"Mama sma-t!" Tick giggled.

"O-oh . . ." Green could feel his cheeks heating up a little, from embarrassment.

"Aw, look! He's blushing!" Amethyst giggled at the same time as Blue.

"Haha!"

When they eventually quietened down, Red turned back to 'serious and ready to save the town' mode.

"Ok, all jokes aside, it is a good plan." He said. "So, let's get going!"

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Hehe. I like this plan!

Green: You're the one who made it.

Renny: Yeah, because you don't have the mental capacity to-

Green: Moving on.

Renny: oh, right. Read, review and comment!


	13. Chapter 13- Swords

Renny: Most of this chapter's gonna be told from Amethyst's point of view. Not first person, third.

Green: This is because you have no idea of what to do with me in the battle thingy.

Renny: For the first part. Most of the plan is gonna be carried out from Amethyst's point of view, but when things get to the point that Green needs to be back in, it'll switch back to him. I should probably start marking stars to show when POV switches during a third person chapter . . .

Red: Yeah, you should.

Renny: Ok then, I'll do that. Disclaimer!

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Azalea town-**

After some more planning, Green and his friends had come up with enough ideas to make the plan work. All that mattered really was that Amethyst and Twin could keep up their charade for at least an hour or so, not two hours since everyone agreed it was too long, plus Amethyst had no clue how to tell time passing by. So far she'd managed to fool a lot of the white armoured humans into thinking she was just a rock, but that also got her the position of 'small chair-rock thing'.

"Man, I hate using these swords." The woman sitting on her complained. The sword that she was using rested on the ground, the blue cloth swaying gently in the wind. Once or twice Amethyst swore it moved, but she guessed it was a trick of the light.

"You're telling me. These things are just creepy." The man standing next to them, leaning against a wooden building, muttered. "I swear to Mew, mine was glaring at me earlier._ Glaring_. Can you believe it?"

"I just don't like them because they're so . . . weight-y." The woman said, standing up and grabbing her sword. "It's like they don't want to be moved or something, you know?"

"Hey, maybe these things are pokemon ghosts that took over swords?" The man smirked. He grabbed a helmet and shoved it onto his head, hiding his dark features from the world. The sword was attached to his left side, the blue cloth gently moving around as if it wanted to grab him but couldn't, or wouldn't.

"Yeah, right. Like the Boss would let us use pokemon." The woman snorted. "Remember what the motto is, Delius?"

"Oh, yeah. 'Pokemon must be treated like the wild animals they are'." The man said, as if repeating something. "But I'm just throwing out ideas! These things are just heavy and I think there's something wrong with them."

"Take it up with the Executives and not me." The woman muttered. She put on her own helmet, adjusting it to her head.

"No way, I could never complain to any of them! They're all way to creepy, even more then these weird swords." The man shuddered.

"Oh yeah, speaking of the Executives, we need to report back to Merek by midday, remember?"

"Oh, man, I hate that guy! He's way to sadistic, seriously."

Their voices faded as they walked away. Amethyst un-tucked her arms and stretched them out for a second, then frowned in the direction they had walked off to. That Merek person sounded like someone who was important, but what exactly was an Executive? Obviously not the leader, since there seemed to be a lot of these 'Executives' around. Maybe the humans under the leader, but above the grunts?

The Geodude shook off the thought and stood on her hands. She quickly checked to make sure no more of the white armoured humans were coming, and then hand-walked after the two who had been talking around her before. She found them as fast as her rocky body would allow, then went down to a slower pace, and lowered herself down to the ground so she could drop quickly if they looked around or if someone else came.

Luckily for Amethyst, neither seemed that interested in what was behind them, or they were just that confident that no one was in town other than their own Team. There were no other humans coming this way either, but she carried on being careful just in case.

A lot of foot- and hand-steps later, the two humans led her to the Well that Ice had told Green about. There was a man in front of it, and a whole bunch of Slowpoke laying around, mumbling in pain. She got to a reasonable listening point and made herself look like a rock again, while the two humans walked up to the man.

He didn't have white armour. He had black and white armour, though it was more black then white. Maybe the colour of the human's armour indicated how high up in their Team they were?

"Sir." The two knelt in front of him.

"Stand up." The man sighed, as if bored. He wore no helmet, and had two swords on either side of his hips, but they both had pink cloths instead of blue. The two white armoured humans did as he said so, and they both stood to attention as he spoke in his bored voice.

"So, what exactly do you have to report?" The man asked.

"We've had some disturbance over the past few hours, sir." The woman said formally. "A boy and a girl with their pokemon. We managed to run them out each time, but we fear they may come back with help soon enough."

"And where would they get help from, exactly?" The man sneered. "We have Union Cave blocked off, and the only way to get to Goldenrod is through here. They can't go anywhere for help, so until we're done with our business here, they can't do anything."

"Y-yes sir, but there may have been someone else before we blocked off the cave." The white armoured man swallowed. "A little boy, with a group of pokemon that seemed to . . . speak to him."

_They're talking about Green_, Amethyst gasped in her mind. So, apparently he'd been seen, but just how much of a threat did these people thing he was, exactly? If they thought he was one, she could try to hold them off for a while, and call Twin to get the others . . .

"What concern is that?" The man scoffed. "So a boy can understand pokemon. I don't see the problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to chopping off these Slowpoke's tails."

"Um, if I may ask, sir . . . Why are you doing that?" The white armoured man asked timidly.

"For money. And also because I'm bored." The man said. "Now be gone, you two. Get back to your posts."

"Yes sir."

The two white armoured humans walked away in an awkward manor, but Amethyst ignored them and glared silently at the man, who was now reaching towards a small Slowpoke with a full tail.

"Get your hands off me!" The Slowpoke shrieked angrily. She raised a claw and scratched the man's hand, but he didn't let go.

"Such a feisty one." The man tutted. "If the Boss allowed us pokemon, I would use you, but alas, our rules state no pokemon at all."

And yet the grunts had a suspicion that the swords they were using were pokemon. Right, 'no pokemon at all'.

"Too bad the grunts don't know what they're even using." The man smirked, holding the Slowpoke up to his face. "They're all idiots, they are."

Now that sounded interesting. Maybe this man knew exactly what the Team was using?

"And what makes you think I care?" The Slowpoke snapped.

"Silly grunts." The man laughed. "They think this world is all black and white, but really it's more complicated than anyone can imagine. You want to know a secret, Slowpoke?"

"Not really."

"These swords are pokemon." The man grinned. "Ghost pokemon forced and trapped into the bodies of swords. My own one is the evolved form of these ghosts, and guess who forced them in? Team Sovereign themselves."

"You humans are sick. That's exactly why we Slowpoke don't go near you. At least the smart ones don't." The Slowpoke muttered. "Don't you have any idea that those 'swords' are crying out?"

Crying out? Amethyst couldn't hear them at all. But then again, her mind was technically made out of rocks, so she was basically immune to telepathy and mind reading. Maybe the swords communicated using telepathy, on a scale that only certain pokemon could hear? It was probably incredibly likely.

"Stupid ghosts." The man laughed, pulling out one of the pink clothed swords and waving it around. Amethyst could clearly see the eye just between the handle and the metal part, glaring straight at the man as he swung it around like a toy.

"Humans are evil creatures." Amethyst heard the Slowpoke sigh.

No, Amethyst wanted to say. Not all humans were bad, just a few who were . . . more imaginative then others. Or at least the more insane ones. That certainly fit the 'bill' for this human, whatever a bill was.

"Now this one certainly is feisty." The man laughed, putting the sword away with no care. "All it ever does is try to oppose me, but of course it never succeeds."

"This needs to stop." Amethyst whispered to herself.

The Slowpoke's ears twitched as if she'd heard something. The man was too busy muttering to himself about how amazing his own abilities were to notice, so the Slowpoke looked around and saw Amethyst nodding at her.

_Oh, hello. _The Slowpoke said in her mind. Amethyst almost jumped, but held herself back so she didn't blow her cover.

_Don't worry. _The Slowpoke continued. _My mind is stronger than my brethren, so I can communicate with rocks as well. You can think back if you want to._

**Uh, ok. **Amethyst said in her mind. It felt strange to be talking using her mind, but as long as the Slowpoke could talk to her, she was fine.

_Do you want me to call your Trainer? _The Slowpoke asked.

**Y-you read my mind!?**

_Don't worry, I only looked at the latest memories. This Green person seems . . . troubled. Anyway, do you want me to call him for you?_

**Before this guy chops off your tail, yeah.**

_Oh he won't. He's been trying for the past three hours, no such luck._

**Wow.**

_I _am_ resilient. I'll call your Trainer now . . ._

_GREEN!_

**oooo**

**-With Red, Blue and Green-**

"How long are we waiting for?" Red sighed, sitting back on his hands. "It's been nearly an hour already!"

"We give it a few more minutes, and then we attack." Green told him, rolling his eyes and going back to fiddling with the grass.

"I'm bored." Blue muttered. "I wanna do something other than sit around."

"Well, you'll have to wait because Mr I-Have-A-Plan told us to." Red murmured back.

"Hey, you agreed to it." Green shrugged. "Not my fault if you're bored."

"Yeah but I wanna-"

_GREEN!_

"Wah!" Green cried at the sudden shout, flailing slightly.

"What's the matter?" Blue asked, looking up.

"I-I just heard someone call my name." Green said, looking around in panic.

"Maybe it was Twin?" Red suggested. "She might be calling you."

"No, I think I'd know Twin's voice . . ." Green muttered.

_Can you hear me, Green? Answer me!_

"There it is again!" Green yelped.

"I didn't hear anything." Red frowned. "Are you sure you can hear something?"

"Yes!" Green snapped.

_Listen, I'm one of the Slowpoke from Rainmaker Well!_

"Slowpoke?" Green blinked.

"Eh?" Blue frowned. "What's up with you?"

"I think there's a Slowpoke calling me." Green told them. "Using telepathy I think."

"That's probably why we can't hear it." Red nodded. "So what's it saying?"

_Listen, we need help! Those dumb humans have taken us from our home, and they're cutting our tails off for no reason! The rock said that you were her Trainer, and you can help us!_

"Apparently humans have taken Slowpokes out of their homes and then started cutting off their tails." Green repeated, feeling incredibly confused. "And also Amethyst said that I could help."

"That's weird. Maybe it's Team Sovereign?" Red hummed. "They did kick us out several times . . ."

_Please, Green! Help us! And bring your friends as well!_

_They're not my friends. _Green muttered in his head.

_I couldn't care less, just help us!_

Well, he didn't expect the voice to actually hear him. Then again, it was using telepathy, so of course it'd hear him. Moron . . .

"Ok, that's the signal we need to get going." Red said, standing up quickly. He returned his pokemon to their balls and stretched out.

"Yep." Blue nodded, copying him almost exactly.

"Wait a second, what if it's one of Team Sovereign trying to trick us?" Green worried, standing up as well. But he didn't return Ice to his ball, and Tick didn't even have one of course.

"If they did, they'd probably be a lot more discreet than that." Ice muttered.

"Oh right, telling someone plans isn't the best way to trick someone." Green said sarcastically.

"Hush, we gotta get going."

"I assume we'll be splitting up, then?" Blue suggested.

"I'll go with you so we can round up some grunts." Red nodded. "Green, why don't you just go look for the leader instead of waiting for us to be done? By the time we're actually done with the grunts he or she might have run off."

"That . . . would probably be better." Green mumbled. "Yeah, alright then. You two try and get in the way you did before. Ice, is there a back way into Azalea?"

"Back way!" Tick giggled. Green shushed him and waited for Ice's answer.

"Well . . . we could try going around the back of the Gym." Ice suggested.

"Good idea."

"Alright, we'll see you whenever you're done!" Red called, already running off with Blue.

Green waited a total of three seconds before nodding to Ice. The Croconaw nodded back and ran off with Green following close behind. Tick luckily kept quiet enough for them to sneak around the actual town itself, and Ice managed to lead Green all the way around the outside perimeter, where a bunch of white armoured people were patrolling.

"Well, they weren't kidding about the armour." Green muttered, crouching down.

"These people are weird." Ice muttered back. "Why aren't they using pokemon, and only those strange swords?"

"Maybe the swords are pokemon." Green whispered.

"That's absurd. I think I would know a pokemon that was a sword." Ice sighed, rolling his eyes and crawling away through the undergrowth.

Green stared at the swords for a few more seconds until Ice called back to him quietly. He quickly followed the Croconaw through the bushes and dirt, all the while using one arm to hold Tick and somehow keep him silent.

"So where's the Gym?" Green asked.

"Not long now." Ice whispered to him. "A few more paces away and we're there, got it?"

"Yeah."

As Ice said, a few more paces away from them stood the Gym, surrounded by trees and bug pokemon. A few buzzed angrily when Green and Ice forced themselves out of the bushes and into the town, but there didn't seem to be any Sovereign grunts around to check the noises.

"Do you think they didn't bother with the Gym?" Green looked around to check again for the grunts.

"They probably don't even know where the Gym is." Ice muttered, glaring at a couple of Weedle as he and Green passed them. "This place is so secluded that the Gym leader here made it half the challenge just finding the place. Of course most of the time he's away at the Ruins of Alph, but what're you gonna do about that?"

"Well, since I already found it, I guess half the challenge is over then."

They kept walking until they came out from behind the Gym, and then ducked back quickly when they saw a bunch of grunts outside the main doors. Green peeked out to see if they'd been spotted, but luckily the group seemed more interested in themselves. Most of them were wearing the white armour, but there seemed to be one man who was wearing mainly black armour with a bit of white on it.

"We nearly got caught." Ice whispered. "And for Mew's sake, please keep Tick quiet."

"He is quiet." Green snapped back. "Now shush, I'm trying to hear what they're saying."

He looked back around to where the group was. The man in the differently coloured armour seemed to be holding something up to the group. No, two somethings. In one hand was a sword with a pink cloth at the hilt, and in the other was a pink lump of . . . Slowpoke?

"That guy's holding a Slowpoke hostage!" Ice whispered in anger.

"I know, I can see that." Green murmured back. "We need to save this town and the Slowpoke."

"But what do they want with the Slowpoke anyway?" Ice frowned. "I mean, this is a town with a Gym in it, so they'd probably hold the people for ransom from the league or something, but the Slowpoke? There's nothing valuable about them!"

"Maybe they're just stupid?"

"Listen to me, fellow Sovereigns!" Someone suddenly shouted.

Green jumped, but looked back to the little gathering going on. The man in the differently coloured armour was speaking to the group now.

"In my hands, I hold two things. The sword, and the pokemon!" The man called. "The sword is what we Sovereigns use when we attack. We do not hide behind stupid little pokemon who do the work for us! The Sovereign will bring back the mighty times when humans did not need help from these savage creatures we call our 'friends'!"

"Savage?" Ice growled. "I'm not savage, if anything he is."

"Ice, you can chew on him later." Green muttered.

"Team Sovereign must not take the hand, claw or paw of a pokemon!" The man continued. "We exist only to bring our King his glorious and rightful rule of this pitiful era! We exist to fight against the monsters that we have let into our society!"

"Hear, hear!" The group shouted.

" . . . It's official, these people are insane." Green whispered.

"People and pokemon need each other to live." Ice said. "Both species realised that eons ago, so why can't these idiots?"

"Like I said, insane."

"Now then, Sovereigns!" The man shouted. "Take up arms and take out any intruders you see in this town! They are not for our cause, and they must be eliminated immediately!"

The crowd cheered and ran off, shouting words of praise to the man. He laughed as they went, and as soon as all of the grunts were out of earshot, he threw the Slowpoke to the ground and sighed mockingly.

"Of course, they don't know the plan." He said, starting to smirk. "Oh, and . . . You can come out now."

"Is he talking to us?" Green whispered, backing away from the corner.

"Can't be." Ice swallowed.

"I saw you, little boy." The man called again. "Come on out, and don't make me count to three!"

"Ok, so he saw us." Green gasped.

"M-Mama?" Tick squeaked fearfully. Green looked down at him for a second, before a metal object was thrusted right in front of him, pointing right at Green's neck.

"Look up slowly, boy."

Green did as he was told slowly. The man smirked at him, holding one of two pink cloth swords at him. Green couldn't see behind him, but he knew Ice hadn't gotten the chance to get away, because he could see the Croconaw's wide eyed reflection in the man's cold and haunting eyes.

"Hello there." The man smiled, almost nicely. _A trick. _"My name is Merek, and you would be?"

Green didn't answer him.

"Answer me, boy." Merek said. "Or would you like to end up like the Slowpoke?"

"W-what did you do?" Green swallowed.

"Cut off their tails. But of course, you don't exactly have a tail, so I guess I can substitute an arm or something." Merek shrugged, making the sword bounce along Green's skin.

"Don't tell him." Ice told him quietly. "He doesn't know who you are yet, kid. If he knows Oak, he might try to use you."

_Like I didn't know that. _Green muttered. He'd been held in a situation like this before, only with Team Rocket.

"I-I scared . . ." Tick whimpered quietly.

"Tick . . ." Green whispered faintly.

"Oh, you like this little one, hm?" Merek smiled, looking down at Tick. "Now what do you think might happen if I said I liked a good omelette?"

As the image came to his head, Green felt like he wanted to throw up.

"Tell me your name, or I'll take that egg from you and boil it alive." Merek growled.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: YES, BEST CLIFFHANGER EVER!

Green: WHAT THE HELL, RENNY!?

Renny: Muahaha! Read, review and comment!


	14. Chapter 14- Duel

Renny: Because I'm sure you all want to get on with the programme, I'll do the disclaimer straight away.

Green: You mean I'm doing it. Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: Yep. On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Azalea town, outside the Gym-**

"_Tick . . ." Green whispered faintly._

"_Oh, you like this little one, hm?" Merek smiled, looking down at Tick. "Now what do you think might happen if I said I liked a good omelette?"_

_As the image came to his head, Green felt like he wanted to throw up._

"_Tell me your name, or I'll take that egg from you and boil it alive." Merek growled._

All Green could do was stare at the man with wide eyes. Inside his mind, he was hearing a million and one voices, all of them screaming at him to run or _do something_, but he couldn't move and Merek was still staring at him. He couldn't see Ice's reflection in those cold eyes anymore.

"Tell me your name." Merek repeated again. "Tell me, boy."

"I . . ."

"Don't do it kid." Ice hissed.

"My name . . ."

"That's it, boy." Merek smiled, though Green still saw the coldness. "Tell me your name."

"Kid!"

"M-my name is . . ."

"Come on, come on . . ." Merek coaxed. Ice whispered something, and Green didn't think before he repeated it.

"My name is Jaden Iron." Green said blankly. Merek immediately slouched and sighed, taking the sword away. He seemed to realise his mistake and put it back to Green's throat.

"Great, I was hoping for someone who we could ransom." Merek muttered, glaring at the trees around them. "Well, since you told me your name, you can live."

Green sighed in pure relief.

"But you'll still be our prisoner."

And then chocked on nothing.

**oooo**

**-The pokemon centre-**

Merek had forced Green (alias Jaden to Merek) to return Ice to his ball, which Green did without complaining because seriously _who the heck questioned a madman with a sword to your throat_? Unfortunately Green almost got himself killed when Merek told him to return Tick, but luckily the boy managed to explain Tick's little situation. He also managed to convince the sadistic man that Tick was just a normal Togepi. Green hoped to Mew that Tick had enough sense now to not use his Extrasensory.

Merek grumbled something and shoved Green into the pokemon centre, the sword still trained on his body. However, the position had changed and was now on his back as the small boy stumbled into the health building. He glanced up and saw Red and Blue and the rest of the town's inhabitants sitting in a large huddle near the desk where the Nurse usually was. He could also see the Nurse herself sitting near the desk as well, and a bunch of Sovereign grunts were standing guard.

"Get this brat to the other lot." Merek muttered, shoving Green towards a random woman in the white armour.

"Yes sir." She nodded.

The woman pushed Green over to where the others were, and then shoved him into the group roughly. A couple of people caught him and then helped him sit down, right where Red and Blue were sitting near the middle of the group.

"You alright?" Red asked instantly.

"M' fine." Green sighed, looking down at Tick, who was wide eyed and staring around the room with fear.

"Is Tick ok?" Blue murmured.

"I . . . That Merek guy nearly killed him." Green mumbled, curling up a bit so he could shield Tick from the view of Team Sovereign grunts.

"Where's Ice?" Red whispered. Green nodded to his belt and knew both of them understood.

There was a silence for a few seconds, one which was only filled in by Merek arguing with a couple of grunts who had a tiny splash of black on their armour. By now Green had figured out that these people were probably doing some sort of knight honour thing, but he doubted any of them actually had any honour to speak of. People who tried, or threatened, to kill babies generally didn't.

"What happened to you two?" Green asked, looking away from Merek and back at his fellow Trainers.

"They . . . caught us." Red muttered. He sounded ashamed of himself. "Apparently they'd been expecting us from the start, and they overwhelmed us in seconds and then took us here. What about you?"

"Merek found us and well . . . held me at sword-point because he wanted to know my name." Green said. "Just in case I was someone he could use for ransom or something."

Red and Blue stared at him in shock. Green hurried to calm them down.

"I-I didn't tell him my real name!" Green whispered urgently. "I lied and said what Ice told me, Jaden Iron. Ok? So please, just use that name until this is all sorted out, ok?"

"Well, it's a nice name." Blue shrugged. "So, how did he try to kill Tick, anyway?"

"He threatened to boil Tick alive if I didn't give him my name." Green said flatly. "He also said he likes omelette. I don't like omelette. If I could slap him, I would."

Red laughed and quickly made it look like a cough when one of the Sovereign grunts looked over. The grunt looked away after a second or two, and Red started grinning again.

"Slap him, huh?" He snickered. "You are such a Mommy to Tick, you know?"

"I've already said I know, so why are you teasing me when it doesn't matter?" Green frowned.

"M-Mama?" Tick whimpered. Green looked down at him and patted his shell gently.

"It's gonna be ok, Tick." Green whispered. "Ame and Twin are still out there somewhere, they'll save us."

"Who're Ame and Twin?" A woman with a little girl asked quietly.

"His Pidgey and Geodude." Blue explained to her.

" . . . We're doomed." A man sighed.

"Hey, they're both smart!" Green snapped at him. "Neither could get caught, so shut up!"

"I'm sure they'll save us." A teenager muttered sarcastically.

"This is why I don't socialise with humans." Green sighed, burying his hands in his face. "You have no faith. At all."

"We have faith." Red reminded him.

"Yeah, but these people don't." Green grumbled, tightening his grip softly on Tick. "Sometimes I just wish I couldn't get into these things, you know . . .?"

"I know the feeling." Red sighed. "But we can't just ignore something like this, Green. These people could kill if they wanted to. Out of the three of us, you're the one who needs to be extremely careful, remember?"

He did remember. It was a constant reminder when he listened to his pokemon's voices, and it was a reminder whenever he looked at Twin and saw the nameless Spearow being killed by her own claws. Yes, he had forgiven her for that, he understood why she did it, but he couldn't help it. Green sometimes wished he could erase his memory, but that wouldn't solve anything would it?

"Green?" Blue murmured, shaking his shoulder. "You alright?"

"Huh? Um, yes, why?" Green blinked, looking up from Tick.

"You looked scared." Red said, frowning in worry. "Are you sure you're alright? That little brain . . . thing . . . that Elm said was installed into you . . . it's not hurting is it?"

"N-no . . . I'm just thinking, that's all." Green told them.

"About what?" Blue asked.

" . . ."

Red sighed and was about to speak, but he was interrupted. Merek's loud and slightly horrifying voice rang out and pretty much forced the room's inhabitants to listen to him.

"Attention all prisoners!" The sadistic man shouted. "I have news for you!"

"This should be good . . ." One grunt nearby muttered to himself.

"I will make a bet with you all." Merek continued as if he hadn't heard, grinning with an evil glint in his eye. "There will be a duel taking place soon. One that is for your freedom! One of you and one of my men will battle outside of this . . . monster centre. If you win, I will leave peacefully with my grunts. If we win, we will not leave and we will keep you as hostages until the league pays the ransom!"

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad." Someone whispered. "Maybe I should volunteer . . ."

"And the duel will be a duel to the _death_!" Merek cried.

The person who had spoken shut up instantly. There was a completely shocked and terrified silence as Merek's words sunk in, but somehow not one person moved or tried to speak. Not even the Sovereign grunts were speaking to Merek or even between themselves.

"And one other thing." Merek went on. "Since Team Sovereign do not use monsters, the battle shall be a sword fight instead of a monster battle, like you 'Trainers' usually do."

Oh, things were looking better already.

"Who here knows how to handle a sword?" Merek shouted to the prisoners. "Which of you will be brave enough to step forward, or be forced into the battle!?"

"He certainly knows how to speak." Red breathed.

"Does anyone know how to handle a sword?" An old woman called.

"Not me! I've never even seen one before now!" Someone else called back.

"What about you? You look like a swordsman!"

"What!? No way, I couldn't!"

"There has to be someone!"

"But they're all experienced with swords, and not one of us know how to use the stupid things!"

Green listened to them argue amongst themselves silently. He was probably going to say something, if only to spare whatever poor soul got shoved into the fight. He could save a life just by speaking up, but why? Why would he do that, when these people had done nothing for him? Green blamed it on Red and his stupid heroic acts, making Green think like that.

"Man, I feel sorry for whoever gets forced into the fight . . ." Red sighed, watching the chaos around them.

"I do too." Blue scoffed. "But it won't be one of us, right?"

"Right." Red nodded.

Both went quiet. It took Green a couple of seconds to realise they were both staring at him expectantly, but he said nothing and glanced away.

" . . . Green." Red said. "If you're about to do what I think you're about to do . . ."

"But . . . I know how to fight with one. My old Master taught me." Green whispered.

"Green, no." Blue gasped. "You can't just . . . what about your Grandfather? What about your sister?"

" . . . Gra- Oak's a liar, and my sister . . . tell her I love her." Green said. "Can you . . . look after Tick for me, please?"

"No, no!" Red cried quietly. "Green, you can't do this. This . . . this isn't like you!"

"So what?" Green smiled slightly. "I blame you and your heroic acts. They rubbed off on me. Take him, please?"

He held out Tick to Red and Blue. Tick was trying to turn around but Green held firm, determined not to look at his face. If he looked at Tick, he wouldn't be able to do this. Blue took Tick from him and hid his face in her chest, and Green set Ice's ball onto the floor in front of Red. He didn't need to look at Ice to tell that the Croconaw was gaping at him.

Then Green stood up.

There was an instant silence as he picked his way out from the group of hostages. The whole of Team Sovereign stared at him, along with Merek himself, as Green made his way over to the white and black armoured man.

"I'll do it." Green told him. "I'll fight for them."

"You? Little kid?" Merek laughed. "Hah, I like you. When you lose, I'll save an eye of you or something, alright?"

Despite how much the image, again, made Green want to vomit, he nodded slightly and stayed as still as he could.

"Well, then. Jaden accepts the bet!" Merek called. "Now who in my team will step forward to battle against him!?"

For a second no one moved. Green turned around to see Red and Blue, along with Tick and Ice (still in his ball thankfully) watching him in despair. The grunts around them were glancing at each other, probably wondering why exactly Green had taken the bet without even complaining.

And then a man with blue hair stepped up, grinning and confident. He walked up to Merek and bowed briefly, then straightened up and looked down at Green with another smug grin.

"Well, it looks like we have our duellers! Jaden and Daren!" Merek cried. "Come, we shall take this outside."

_I'll take something else outside if you don't shut up and get on with it. _Green muttered in his head.

Merek led the two outside of the pokemon centre and a few feet away from it, where there seemed to be a large white circle about the size of four or five small Dragonite curled into balls. Merek directed both of them to stand right in front of it, facing the pokemon centre. Then the remaining grunts marched the rest of the prisoners outside, probably to watch Green get torn apart by the much larger male next to him.

"Give them the swords." Merek ordered a nearby grunt. She nodded and dashed off, and then came back with two of the swords that had a blue cloth on.

She walked up to Green and Daren and held out the swords, the left one to Daren and the right one to Green. But then the one being offered to Daren started shaking, and suddenly Green found himself holding a strange sword that seemed to . . . blink at him happily.

"Um . . . Ok . . ." The woman muttered, backing away slightly. She quickly gave Daren his sword, and then rushed off, glancing back occasionally at the sword Green had.

He took hold of the hilt with both hands as his old Master had taught him, and felt a small hum in head, much like back at Elm's lab when the little . . . thing was installed into his head. Green worried that this sword was actually alive, and that it was probably really angry about being manhandled and also used for battle like this. But something in the hum reassured Green and made him feel like it wasn't going to hurt him.

"Now then, you may begin when both of you are in the ring!" Merek shouted.

Daren moved into the white circle, which Green knew was the ring by obvious looks, and waited. The boy glanced around quickly and saw a grunt standing by with a white thing in her hand, and guessed that she was the one who'd made the circle.

"Hey!" Daren called. "You fighting or what, brat!?"

The old insult sparked in Green's head, and he made his way onto the opposite part of the circle and faced Daren, who got into a one-handed sword pose. Green ignored the obvious charge and bowed to him, as his old Master taught him, and then straightened up to look Daren in the eye.

"A real swordsman always shows respect to his opponents, no matter how pathetic they may be." Green told him smoothly.

"Why you little-"

Daren broke off, screaming. He charged at Green aimlessly, probably hoping to get the fight over in a single blow. Of course, Green was going to stall for as long as he could so then Twin or Amethyst could find them and get them out or something if that nature.

Green waited until the last moment before sidestepping Daren's attack easily, using his smaller size to slide under the white armoured man's arm. Quickly he assessed the sword he was using.

It was heavy and completely made from metal. The only thing not made from metal was the cloth, which moved around wildly even though there was no wind to make it move. The eye blinked at Green, almost looking happy again, but the boy shrugged it off as adrenalin playing tricks on his head. Or maybe fear.

His old Master had taught him that no matter the size of the sword, he could use it just like a stick could be used to attack someone and hurt them, despite how fragile they were. Even if this sword was heavier than what Green was used to, he could use that and made his swings harder and also more powerful. And seeing as Daren was probably going to leave a lot of his vital points open, probably out of anger or whatever, Green would be able to hold him off.

Not kill him. Green had originally intended to die in this so then everyone else could get out, but now he had a small chance because he'd remembered that Twin and Amethyst were probably nearby. And one way to alert them to his presence was . . .

The boy smirked and hit Daren's armour with the side of the blade, making a loud _CLANG_ noise echo around the whole town. Daren howled and staggered back a little, before spinning around and giving another swing. His sword seemed to be heavier than Green's did, as he swung slower than what Green was used to. That gave him a second to move out of the way, backwards, and hit the side of the sword against his armour again.

Daren grunted and tried another swing, but Green moved again.

_CLANG!_

"Agh!"

Daren missed the hit. Green hit him again.

_CLANG!_

"Come here, you little brat!"

Green sidestepped the attack again and hit Daren.

_CLANG!_

"Stop playing with me!" Daren roared.

He suddenly got a lot better at the sword fighting, and then started swinging wildly at Green, who just barely managed to get out of the way of all the swings. Each time Green tried to hit his armour, Daren somehow managed to block his attacks and try to hit him back, forcing Green to go onto the defensive instead of just keeping a steady pace.

Then, Green saw an opening. It was Daren's helmet, the one place the man hadn't bothered to try and parry against so far. All Green had to do was try and feint in a blow to the legs . . .

The boy glanced down and made as if to hit Daren's legs with the sword. Instantly the Sovereign grunt's sword went down to stop the fake blow, and Green quickly hit upwards to attack his helmet. The thing flew off and somehow Green's sword forced him to keep going with the hit, cutting right into Daren's chin and then into his head.

Green froze. Daren stayed still on the end of his sword, head still pierced on the blade, and his own sword slipped out of his grasp limply. All Green could hear was complete silence. Then he felt a rush of terror, and he quickly yanked the sword out of Daren's head, and watched the man's body fall to the ground. The boy looked at the sword he was holding, and saw blood and some pink stuff on the blade, and he felt utterly sick. For the third time in one day, he wanted to throw up whatever food he'd had.

Someone started shouting for someone else to leave, and then suddenly Green was collapsing to the floor onto his hands and knees, dropping the sword somewhere nearby, and staring at the body in front of him blankly. He felt numb and clutched at his stomach, which was extremely unsettled. Then someone put their hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into Red's worried face. Blue was beside him, holding Tick who was silent but wide eyed.

"Green . . ." Red whispered softly.

His words snapped Green out of his numb daze, and then everything in his stomach came up. Green heaved and then vomited on the ground, coughing violently. He felt a hand rub his back, and took a little bit of comfort in it.

"Mama . . .?" Tick murmured, out of Blue's arms and on the ground, standing nearby but not in Green's vomit. "A-are you ok?"

Green said nothing to him. He held out his arms weakly and watched Tick walk right into them, and held the baby Togepi to his chest tightly. Green curled up, not even caring that his forehead was probably resting in his vomit, and felt himself shake.

Someone's hand, too big to be Red or Blue's, pulled him up gently. Thankfully they didn't get him onto his feet, because Green honestly didn't trust himself to walk or even stand without falling over. The Nurse murmured soft words he didn't hear and wiped his face gently, but not one bit of it registered in his mind.

_I just killed someone._

Red said something to the Nurse and she nodded, and then stood. Blue followed her with a short glance at Green, and then Red brought out a pokeball containing a Croconaw. He let the pokemon out, and watched.

"Kid." Ice's muffled voice said. "Kid, listen to me. You're just in shock, that's all. You'll be fine once this is all over, alright?"

Green nodded, barely even feeling his body respond. Ice turned to Red and then he couldn't hear them anymore, and a few moments later Red was picking him up. The emerald eyed boy curled into his chest and clutched at Tick, who murmured wordless coos to him. Green couldn't care less if people were watching.

Red took him into the pokemon centre, exchanged a few words with the Nurse and Blue, and then took Green to a room with two beds. He felt Red settle him down onto one of them, and Green curled up on his side, still holding onto Tick. Ice crawled onto the bed after, silently.

"I'll be back in a bit, ok?" Red murmured. "Me and Blue are gonna go and find Amethyst and Twin for you, Green. Do you understand?"

Green nodded but didn't speak to him. He heard a muffled sigh from Red, and then watched the crimson eyed boy walk out of the room. The second Red was gone, Green whimpered and felt his eyes water up.

"Kid, I said you'd be alright." Ice murmured, sitting and facing him. "Now . . . how about you go to sleep for a while, alright?"

"I . . . Ice . . .?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"C- . . . can you tell . . . a story . . .?" Green whispered faintly. Ice's look softened considerably, and he nodded.

"Sure, kid. A few hundred years ago, there was a bird by the name of Lugia. This bird was said to have been given special powers, and was honoured by many of the humans that roamed the planet . . ."

Soon, Green felt his eyelids getting heavy. Though he wanted to hear the end of the story/legend that Ice was telling him and Tick (who had fallen asleep anyway), he wanted to sleep as well. So, Green shifted a little and closed his eyes.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: In which a massive problem is created by the fact that Green killed a man.

Green: W-WHAT!?

Renny: Meh. Read, review and comment!


	15. Chapter 15- Being A Killer

Renny: Hello and welcome to the fifteenth chapter of _Redemption_! This one is gonna be filled with angst and a lot of 'oh god what have I done' crap, so don't be shocked if Green starts bawling like a little baby at one point. Anyway, thanks for the whole load of reviews, and the actual views themselves (over 1500 and something yippee!), and read this chapter knowing I love pretty much all of you for just reading this thing!

Red: You're just looking for excuses to make Green depressed, aren't you?

Renny: The killing thing was planned the second I planned Team Sovereign not to have pokemon. Anyway, would you mind doing the disclaimer for me?

Red: Ugh, only because me and Blue got way more screen time than we did in any other chapters. Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

The second the guy fell, Green knew he wouldn't be the same. After all, he had just killed someone, and he didn't even mean to do it. A horrifying thing really, to kill someone. A lot of people (and maybe pokemon) thought that you just got sad for a bit and then got over it. Honestly, Green could tell those people otherwise.

So he stood where he was, clutching the sword in his hands. It was still making that weird humming noise, and it was creeping him out really.

"G-Green . . ."

The boy turned around and stared at Red, who was gaping at him in shock. Green looked down and saw the blood coated sword in his hands, and he saw the thing blink at him. The humming got a bit louder.

"What . . . have you done?" Red whispered.

_I don't know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, don't hurt me for it, please . . ._

Green opened his mouth to answer, 'I don't know what I did', but an angry voice cut him off.

"Murderer!"

Green turned to the shouter, and saw Blue walking up, glaring at him with full hatred. All words that could have formed in his mouth were gone instantly the second he looked at Tick.

The baby Togepi wasn't looking at him. He was staring at the dead body in shock, and when he did look up, all Green could see was fear in those little eyes of his.

"M-Mama's a killer." Tick murmured.

"N-no . . ." Green chocked out. No one seemed to hear him.

"What did you do?" Red asked again, starting to glare. Blue growled her accusation again, and soon both were shouting at him.

"_Murderer!"_

"_What have you done!?"_

All Tick did was stare at him in horror. Green squeezed his eyes shut to try and block out the noise, and somehow it worked. He waited for a few seconds before deciding to open his eyes, and then he saw he wasn't even in Azalea anymore. The humming from the sword was even louder now, but he didn't even have it with him. Green wondered where it was, but he quickly decided to assess his surroundings first.

The boy looked around the grey room. It had a poor looking bed in the corner, held up by a few chains, a desk next to it, and a little bucket in the other corner. The whole room was dirty, as if no one had cleaned it in ages, and there seemed to be a tally made from white chalk on the wall the bed was resting against.

_CLANG! _

Green jumped at the noise. It had come from behind him, and so he turned around and froze. He was in a prison cell. The steel bars almost glared at him, and a prison guard was opening them and shoving some food through, and then the guard locked the bars again and walked off.

_He was in prison._

"W-wait . . ."

Green rushed up to the bars and tried to see the guard again. He could see another one on the opposite side of the room, where he held a tray and a baton.

"H-hello?" Green called to him. "Hey, over here!"

The guard ignored him and started shoving some food into a cell that was closed off from the rest, with a door and a latch, probably for food.

"Hey! I-I don't think I'm meant to be here!" Green shouted to the man. Even if he'd killed someone by accident, he should have gotten a trial at least, right?

The guard continued to ignore him. Then he walked off, empty handed, leaving the baton in front of the door. And then the door opened and the baton rolled across the room to where Green's cell was. The boy picked it up and blinked at it for a second, before looking up at the door opposite him.

"Hello." The man smiled. The smile was cold, and for a second Green didn't recognise him, but he eventually did.

The man had grey hair, with a tiny tint of brown in it, and dark eyes. His features were hard and he had a short-cropped beard and scars were all over his hands and arms, which were muscled greatly.

"D-Daddy . . ." Green whispered.

"That's right." The man said. "I'm your Daddy, and you know what I think of all this?"

" . . ."

"Killing runs in the family, doesn't it?" He laughed cruelly. "This is only the first of many, you runt."

"R-runt . . .?" Green mumbled, gripping the bars so tightly he swore he was bleeding.

"You've always been a runt." The man suddenly snarled. "I wanted a son who was able to stand up for himself, a son who was strong and unbreakable. But no, I get a pathetic runt like you. The only thing that we have in common is killing."

"B-but . . . you've killed hundreds of people!" Green cried, hearing the humming get louder again. "I only killed one man, and that was an accident!"

"Doesn't matter. This won't be the last time." The man smirked. "Now, what are you gonna do with that baton, Runt?"

The baton. In his panic and anger, Green had forgotten he had the thing. The emerald eyed boy blinked and then he and the man were suddenly standing in a black abyss, the prison and its cells and guards nowhere to be seen.

"What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?" The man asked again. "What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"

"I-I . . ."

The man continued to repeat the words until it was all Green could hear besides the humming sound. Green tried to get rid of both by putting his hands over his ears, but the sounds were still clear even if he tried to block them out like he did the last time.

"What are you gonna do with the-"

"SHUT UP!" Green screeched. He dashed forward and hit the man with the baton, straight on the head, and then he was covered in blood and pink stuff. He looked down at his hands and saw that the baton had turned into the sword he'd held before, and when Green looked up at the man all he could see was half a head, with the mouth still moving, on a body.

"What are you gonna do with the baton, **Runt**?" The mouth said.

"H-how . . ."

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

Green swallowed and stumbled backwards, but the body seemed to follow him without even moving.

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

"S-shut up!" Green shouted at him.

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

The boy whimpered and sat on the ground, covering his ears and closing his eyes. He could hear the humming sound fade away, and now all he could hear was the half-headed body talking and talking and talking.

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

By now he was crying, and starting to beg the body to stop repeating the words over and over. Of course it didn't work, but it was all he could do to at least stop some of the noise.

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

"P-please, just stop it . . ."

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

"I don't know . . . I don't know, please just stop, please!"

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

The sword was still in his hands, but he couldn't do anything with it. Green's hands seemed to be unable to let the thing go, no matter how much he wanted to do so. The humming and the man's voice got so loud he screamed in pain and curled up, gasping out words he couldn't understand anymore.

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

"_Kid! It's alright, just wake up!"_

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

"_M-Mama, wake up!"_

"**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**

"_Green, please wake up! Tick's crying!"_

"_**What are you gonna do with the baton, Runt?"**_

"_GREEN OAK, WAKE UP!"_

**oooo**

Green jumped and felt like he was falling for a second, but then he came to his senses and sat up. He was on the bed that he'd been in since Red brought him here, and all of his pokemon were staring at him with wide eyes. Well, almost all of them. Tick was crying his eyes out, clutching at Green's shirt tightly.

"T-tick!" Green cried, quickly grabbing the baby and cuddling him.

"M-Mama's ok!" Tick cried, burying his face in Green's chest. Green watched him for a few seconds, before turning to the rest of the pokemon.

"What . . . What happened?" He asked quietly.

"You were screaming." Ice explained, looking relieved. "And before you started that, you said something about a 'Daddy'."

" . . . Oh." Green mumbled. He swallowed and looked at Amethyst and Twin, and then did a double take.

"Finally." Twin sighed, glaring at him. "I had thought you would not wake."

"T-Twin, you . . . you evolved!" Green cried, eyes widening.

"Yes, I did." The new Pidgeotto smirked. "I am quite pleased with my new form."

Green could agree wholeheartedly. As usual, Twin was larger than the Pidgeotto Green had seen (and had) before. Her crest on the top of her head was deep red and not pink, which was another thing that had changed, and her feathers all over her body were a bit darker than normal. Green could clearly see her tail feathers were longer and darker as well, and the two black marks that were on her head were both split up, one part of both going down to her wings and disappearing past her tail feathers, and the second part of both black marks joined at her neck.

"When did that happen?" Green asked her.

"Back when she saved me." Amethyst explained. "That guy in the black and white armour was cutting off Slowpoke tails, and he was about to cut off another one's tail. I tried to stop him but he had some sort of sword, and then Twin came in and stopped him from attacking me. She evolved and got rid of him, but he got away with the Slowpoke he was holding."

"W-wow . . ."

"I hate to interrupt this little conversation, but I'd like to know what you were dreaming about." Ice said.

Green stared at him for a few seconds. Twin and Amethyst exchanged looks in the corner of his eyes, and both looked at him with worried expressions. All Green could do was stare at Ice.

"Kid, I know you probably don't wanna talk about it, but we need to know what's wrong so we can help you." Ice murmured. "Please, kid."

" . . . W-where are Red and Blue?" Green asked, looking around.

"We're right here."

Green squeaked and looked up at the door. Both of the Trainers stood there, looking just as worried as Green's team were. Red and Blue walked in, Red closing the door afterwards, and crouched down near Green's bed.

"Are you ok, Green?" Blue asked.

" . . . I . . . I don't know." Green mumbled, curling up away from them. He still remembered the dream Red and Blue, who had gotten angry and shouted. Somehow he was applying those to the real ones.

"How are you feeling?" Red murmured.

Green looked away and didn't answer. His grip tightened on Tick, but he held back enough so that the baby Togepi wasn't going to get crushed by his own hands. Green didn't want to kill anything else, after all.

"Kid, listen to me." Ice said. "I know you're probably scared and all that, but what happened was not your fault."

"It was . . ." Green whispered, turning his gaze to his feet.

"What was?" Blue blinked. "Green, what did Ice say?"

" . . . H-he said . . . he said it wasn't m-my fault . . ." Green mumbled, feeling heavy for some reason.

"It wasn't." Red told him gently. "Everyone knows you didn't mean to do that, Green. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"But . . . but I killed him!" Green blurted, looking up. "I-I'm a murderer!"

"You're not a killer." Amethyst shook her head, or did her own equivalent of it.

"Yes I am . . ." Green mumbled. He curled up again and hid his face from the others, the heavy feeling getting worse and worse.

"Calm down, Green." Blue murmured. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"D-don't touch me!" Green yelped, looking up and glaring at her. Blue looked hurt as she withdrew her hand, and he forced himself to calm down a bit. "Just . . . don't . . . ok?"

"Is there anything we can say or do to make you believe it wasn't your fault?" Red asked.

" . . ."

"Apparently not." Ice sighed. "Kid, until you actually do believe it, we'll all keep saying the same thing. We know you didn't mean to kill that guy, it was a complete accident and we all know it. You know it as well, but you're blaming it on yourself."

"I know." Green told him. "I know . . ."

"What did he say?" Blue asked quietly.

"The same thing you two are saying." Green mumbled. "Leave me alone, please . . ."

"No way." Red frowned. "Not when you're like this. You need some help and we're here to give it to you, understand?"

" . . . Yes."

"Good." Blue suddenly grinned. "Then you won't mind if I do this?"

Green opened his mouth to ask, 'do what exactly?', but he was interrupted by his own shriek as Blue almost literally threw herself on the bed and enveloped his body in a tight hug. Green froze up and just stared over her shoulder pointedly at a fixed point on the wall opposite, not even knowing what he was meant to do.

"All you need is a friend." Blue whispered to him. "And me and Red, and your pokemon, we're all your friends. And we're gonna help you, alright?"

"W-w-wha . . ." Green chocked.

He saw Red stand up and get onto the bed as well, and then he was being squeezed by both of them. The boy could feel Tick clutching his chest in a sort of hug as well, and Green ran a hand over the baby's head gently.

"We're here for you." Red mumbled. "Always, Green. Don't forget that."

And then his pokemon decided they wanted in as well. Ice wormed his way through the tangle that was Red and Blue, and came out in between both. His short but powerful arms came around Green's shoulders and he rested his chin next to his head, and then Amethyst, with a reluctant but willing Twin, came up and did almost the same thing.

Something that felt wet started to slide down Green's cheek. The heavy feeling got worse until it was overwhelming, and he had to almost physically hold back a sob, burying his face in Red's shoulder. The boy could feel his body shaking, and in response Blue hugged him tighter and murmured soft words into his ear.

For a while they just stayed like that, bunched up and none of them moving other than Green who tried to stop his body shaking. Then, one by one, they started to untangle themselves. Twin came off first, flapping away onto a post that was conveniently in the room to sort out her feathers. Amethyst followed her and settled down at the bottom of it, watching Green and the others with a smile. Ice wiggled out of the three human's arms and went over to the pillow to sit down.

It took a few more seconds for Red and Blue to let go of Green. The both sat back and stayed on the bed, smiling at the boy.

"You ok now?" Red asked him.

"Y . . . yes." Green said. "I think so . . ."

"I think all you needed was a good night's rest and a good cry." Blue giggled.

Green hummed and looked down at Tick, who still hadn't stopped hugging Green's chest. The emerald eyed boy smiled at that and allowed the baby Togepi to carry on hugging him, if only because he was starting to like the idea of being a Mother to a pokemon, especially one like Tick.

" . . . I'll say this again, Green." Red murmured. "It was not your fault, alright? You did nothing wrong."

" . . . I know." Green sighed. "I-I know . . ." He blinked and looked up, the dream coming back to him suddenly. "I won't go to jail, will I?"

"Of course not!" Blue exclaimed, as if the idea repulsed her. "If anything you saved this whole town! That's not criminal. That's good."

"Sometimes good isn't the best thing." Green said, shivering when he thought back to the man's head being split open. He watched Red and Blue exchange glances.

" . . . I'll give it to you straight." Blue murmured, turning back to him. "Sometimes being good isn't always about doing the right thing. You could have killed him on purpose, or by accident, but either way you still did a good thing. That's all that should matter right now."

"And I suppose you know about doing good by doing bad?" Green smirked.

"Oh, just because I can con people and you can't." Blue muttered. She smiled though, as did Red.

"Feeling better then?" Red laughed.

" . . . Yeah." Green nodded. "Somewhat anyway. Um . . . what's going on out there, anyway?"

"Well, the town's Gym leader came back and threw a fit when he found out what happened." Red explained. "He's been setting up defences and such, and rounding up all the Slowpoke he could to protect them. One told me and Blue to say thank you to you. Do you know her?"

"Yeah." Green said. "She was the one who contacted me."

"That explains it." Blue nodded. "Anyway, we battled the Gym leader a few hours ago and won. His pokemon were hard to beat, but we did it. Maybe . . . maybe a battle could help out more as well, you know, get your mind working again?"

"My mind never worked the way it should have done." Green told them. "But alright then. I was sort of . . . planning on challenging the guy after I got a ball for- Oh no!"

Red and Blue blinked as Green looked down at Tick with an alarmed expression.

"What's the matter?" Red asked cautiously.

"I-I forgot to find Kurt!" Green sighed. "Ugh, I'm so stupid . . . Wait I was asleep why am I even getting mad at myself."

" . . . Yeah, your mind is weird." Blue smiled. "But why do you wanna see the pokeball man?"

"Tick doesn't have a ball." Green said. "Some rare case of 'pokemon from Egg belongs to you but doesn't go into a ball' type thing. Elm said only Kurt's balls could catch him, you know, so he has some safe thing if he gets in trouble. Or something."

"Well, he was offering to make one for you as thanks for saving him and the town." Blue said. "We'll take you to him, if you want?"

"Yeah, thanks."

The next few minutes passed by needlessly for Green. He was still slightly afraid of how people would react to him, the way they'd treated him before was bad enough, but he was willing to go through that if it meant finally getting a ball for Tick. As soon as he managed to make himself presentable, he grabbed his messenger bag and got his team together, and then followed Red and Blue out of the room.

No, he followed his friends out of the room.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Chapter 15, Being A Killer. I love that title.

Green: I don't.

Renny: Uh-huh. Read, review and comment!


	16. Chapter 16- Second Gym

Renny: Green hasn't gotten over it, don't worry. He'll be a bit shy and stuff for a while, so don't be shocked if he does something completely OOC or something. Don't worry, he'll be back to his half-smart and snarky self soon enough. He got over the Spearow thing quick enough to shout at Twin, well . . . sort of anyway. He'll bounce back at some point.

Green: I'm already over killing the guy.

Renny: That's you in the 4th Wall room. The one I'm on about is the one in the story. You know, the thing I'm writing? Also, there is a high chance there will be a Gym battle after Green _finally_ gets the bloody ball for Tick. And it only took like ten chapters to get it.

Green: You are impossible.

Renny: Whatever. Anyway, I was watching Avengers Assemble a while ago and sort of got the idea of who in PokeSpe would play who. Here's who I got:

**Bruce Banner/The Hulk- Green Oak **

**Tony Stark/Iron Man- Gold or Green Oak**

**Steve Rogers/Captain America- Red or maybe Ruby**

**Thor- Red or Black**

**Clint Barton/Hawk Eye- Silver**

**Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow- Blue**

**Nick Fury- Oak or Rowan**

**Loki- N (lol yes him)**

Renny: Haha, good choices or totally 'nope's all around?

Green: You're getting off-track again.

Renny: Right, sorry. I could play as a female Stark though. Totally.

Green: No you couldn't.

Renny: Shut up. Disclaimer!

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Azalea town, outside of the pokemon centre-**

Kurt turned out to be a fairly young man with a tiny little granddaughter who looked a bit terrified of Green. No wonder, since he had actually killed a guy the first time she'd seen him. Oh, hey, he could actually think about it without breaking down and crying again. Nice. Maybe that hug did more than he could have thought . . .

Getting off-track.

"Ah, you're the one who saved us all?" Kurt smiled, walking up with a small back patched around his waist. He held out a hand to Green, who stared at it and then Kurt blankly.

"Kid, shake his hand." Ice sighed, putting a claw to his face.

"Oh, right!" Green blinked. He smiled sheepishly and shook Kurt's hand and then let go when he started to feel uncomfortable. Which was almost instantly.

"What's your name, kid?" Kurt asked.

"I'm . . . I'm a bit surprised you d-don't know actually . . ." Green mumbled, looking away from the man in shame. "E-everyone here seems to know me . . . and what I did . . ."

"What you did was save the whole town!" Kurt exclaimed. Green didn't bother to correct him. Nor did he want to mention what he'd done in the past either. Even if the past had been only a few months ago. Which was still in the past so it counted as the past.

Again, focus.

"Is there any way I can repay you?" Kurt asked eagerly. "I make pokeballs for Trainers who I deem worthy of them, and I think you've more than earned the right to have one!"

"Um . . . w-well . . ."

"He needs a pokeball for his Togepi." Red stepped in and said for Green. "Something about it being registered to him but not exactly in a pokeball yet. I'm not sure I know what happened . . ."

"Tick is a 'he', not an 'it'." Green murmured quietly.

"Sorry, he then." Red laughed.

"Ah, I understand. Sometimes that happens when you hatch a pokemon from an Egg." Kurt nodded, smiling knowingly. "A pokemon that hatches from an Egg can sometimes be registered to the person who it first sees, or it's 'Mother', so to speak. It can't be caught by any pokeball other than my own, because they were made with heart and not machinery like many of the ones you buy from the PokeMart. However, that also works both ways. If someone else who uses one of my pokeballs, the person who isn't the 'Mother' of the Egg pokemon, then they can capture the pokemon and it will be registered to that person instead. However, not many people get these unless they prove themselves, so I'll gladly make one for you."

"Thanks." Green smiled a bit, looking down at Tick. "Hear that? We're gonna get you a ball now."

"M-Mama won't make me go in, ri-te?" Tick whispered.

"Of course not." Green told him. The boy brought Tick up to his face and smiled to calm the baby pokemon down. "I'd never do that unless I had to."

"Yay!" Tick cheered. Tick giggled and reached forward to hug Green's face for a second, before the emerald eyed boy moved him so he could cling onto his chest instead.

"Um, can he . . . talk to his pokemon?" Kurt asked Red and Blue.

"Well, only his own ones." Blue said. "If you want, we could explain, but I think Green's had enough of it already. How long will it take to make the ball for him?"

"A day tops." Kurt smiled. "In the meantime, you could challenge the Gym leader. Apparently he got back this morning from the Ruins of Alph and he's now running around helping out."

"Who's the Gym leader?" Green asked, looking up from Tick.

"That'd be me."

Green almost jumped five feet in the air. He restrained himself because of Tick, and turned around to glare at whoever tried to scare the Distortion World out of him. A kid, around his age, maybe a bit older, was standing in front of him (would have been behind if he hadn't turned), with purple hair and a green outfit. He/she also had a bug net in their hand, and they were looking a bit smug and yet kind.

" . . . You're the same age as us." Red commented. "How are you a Gym leader at this age?"

"I'm just that good." The kid shrugged. "Name's Bugsy, by the way."

"Uh, nice to m-meet you." Green mumbled, nodding to the kid.

"He's the expert on bug pokemon." Kurt said from behind them. "Watch out for his Heracross, as well."

"What's a Heracross?" Blue questioned.

"Fighting/bug pokemon." Bugsy explained for them. "Tough to beat, even worse to take hits from. That's why I have one."

"So dual weakness to flying moves." Green said, suddenly feeling a lot better about the battle. "Twin could probably take it out with Gust or something."

"Gust isn't that much of a move if your pokemon doesn't have good special attack." Bugsy shrugged. "And my Heracross has amazing special defence, so I don't think it would work. The best you can hope for is around a few HP taken away from it, really. Again, it's a tank and a fighter."

"What if I try and shove some rocks on it?" Green asked, genuinely curious as he hadn't come across this sort of typing before. "Would the weakness to rock moves be taken away by being fighting typed, or would it still be the same?"

"That'd be telling." Bugsy laughed, moving the bug net from one hand to another. "You'd have to figure it out for yourself. Why don't you come on down now, and we can have a Gym battle?"

"Wha- right now!?" Green cried, almost dropping Tick. "S-seriously? But what about these people? Don't they . . . need help or . . . or something?"

"They can manage for a few." Bugsy grinned at him. "Besides, it seems we have a tactical genius here. I wanna see how you can play it out. Come on, the Gym's this way."

"Yeah, we've . . . been there . . . before . . ." Green mumbled, watching the kid walk off. He stared after Bugsy, a bit shocked.

"Tactical genius?" Blue frowned. "I've never noticed it."

"Maybe because he never got the chance to show it?" Red smiled. He turned to Green and tapped him on the shoulder gently. "Hey, Genius, are you really that good, or is he just making false assumptions?"

"I . . . I dunno . . . I just analyse the stuff and figure out ways to take the opponent down if I don't know what they can do . . . And I always know the opponent beforehand so I never bothered to . . ." Green mumbled. "That's . . . not really tactical, I think."

"I'd say it is." Kurt commented. "Well, I'll be off to make that ball now. Since it's for your little baby, I'll make it a Luxury ball, if that's alright?"

"Luxury ball?" Green blinked. "Is . . . that a new type of pokeball?"

"Yep. Makes a pokemon more friendly because the ball is more comfortable for them." Kurt told him. "I'll be off now, see you tonight, or earlier."

Green waved as he walked away, and then squeaked when Red grabbed his arm and started dragging him in the direction Bugsy had gone off in. Ice, Twin and Amethyst quickly followed behind, chatting to each other about the battle and what the Heracross could do. Green decided to think over his options for the battle in the meantime, getting up to Red's pace so he didn't trip or anything.

Seeing as the Heracross was a fighting type as well as bug, Amethyst would have to sit on the sidelines in case it knew any fighting type attacks, which would probably break her apart. Twin was fast enough to be able to hit it and move out of the way of its attacks, but Green knew her special attack, while impressive for a Pidgey- no, Pidgeotto- was pretty good, it wasn't the best stat she had. So basically, she could use Gust all she wanted and get 4x the advantage, or she could use her Quick Attack and Tackle moves to hit the bug pokemon. But at least she could attack it. Green only hoped that Bugsy didn't have two of the things.

He sort of wished it would be like Oswald's Gym battle. At least that guy used one type that Green knew well enough to know how to take it down to some level, but of course this world wouldn't be so kind as to give Green the useless pokemon like Metapod or even a Butterfree to attack. No, Butterfree isn't useless, it's just weak to a lot of stuff, but it is powerful, Green forced himself to think. No point in downgrading possible pokemon who he could use during battles, anyway.

**oooo**

**-Inside the Gym-**

"Welcome to my Gym, challenger!" Bugsy called from across the arena.

Green took a few seconds to gawk at the scenery in front of him. Unlike in Oswald's Gym, the place was incredibly well-lit and brightly coloured, with a pale yellow painted on the walls. There were some red circle things with black dots on the walls, and there appeared to be benches on the right and left parts of the field, all of them a white colour, with a small wall in front of them, probably to stop watchers from going onto field or something along those lines.

The strangest thing was the arena itself. The last Gym had a completely flat floor, whereas this one had a grassy terrain and had two raised boxes, one for the Gym leader and the other for the challenger, Green guessed. Covering the arena was a glass-like dome which was see-through and a bit battered, maybe because of battles, and there were two holes, probably for putting the pokemon in.

"Come on then!" Bugsy called again, already on his box thing. Green blinked out of his observations and quickly got onto the challenger box and put his hands on the railing, feeling a bit overwhelmed at how amazing this Gym was in comparison to the other two he'd seen (Brock's and Oswald's).

He could see Red and Blue sitting on the right side of the field, with Tick and Ice sitting next to them. Tick had been reluctant to leave him, but luckily Ice explained that he'd still be able to see his 'Mommy' even if he couldn't touch him. Green had taken Amethyst in for the battle in case she was needed for a pokemon that Twin couldn't handle, as a sort of back-up.

"This battle will be two-on-two." The referee, which was another thing that was different, called. "Only the challenger is allowed to switch out pokemon, and if any foul play is seen, the owner of the pokemon will be disqualified and the left over Trainer will be the victor. Now, get ready!"

Green fumbled around for a second before grabbing Twin's ball. She looked at him from inside the red sphere, and nodded. Green nodded back, and held it out to the small hole in the glass-like dome. Though he did know it was probably really strong plastic, it was easier to think of it as glass. He saw Bugsy hold out a ball as well, but with no way of knowing what he was sending in, Green kept his guard up.

"And go!" The referee blew a whistle, making Green flinch at the sound of the high pitched thing, and then watched.

It took Green two seconds to realise he was meant to do something, and he quickly released Twin into the arena. Bugsy did the same with his pokemon, and Green almost panicked when he saw a strange looking beetle pokemon he'd never seen before.

"Um, what is that?" Green called.

"Heracross!" Bugsy replied. "I told you about him, remember? His name's Hammer, by the way!"

_Fitting name_, Green mused, looking at the hammer-like horn on top of the Heracross's head. If that thing was the Heracross, then Green didn't know how Twin could move out of the way. The thing looked like it had wings as well, though they were probably tucked away and hidden under its shell/armour/whatever that is.

Hopefully they were just for decoration, though.

"We could make this an aerial fight!" Bugsy called. "Both can fly!"

Damn. Looked like they weren't for decoration or whatever then.

"Yeah, sure!" Green called back.

Twin was already in the air, flapping her new and powerful wings. Green knew she'd have loved the chance to try out her new power now that she'd evolved, so even though she was already his first choice, he'd put her in for that reason as well. Good choice, he supposed, but maybe the advantage he'd hoped for would be gone now that the Heracross could fly.

The grey-blue bug buzzed something that Green couldn't understand, and then the strange shell-like armour on its back split in two and opened up. Clear, oval shaped wings with sharpened tips rose out of its back and started humming as they moved slowly, and eventually the wings picked up speed. As soon as the speed of the humming wings got to an almost invisible pace, the Heracross rose into the air and buzzed happily.

"I did not expect to fight against a flying brother." Twin commented, watching the bug float and buzz. "I had expected this fight to be on the ground."

"Not my fault." Green told her. "Try not to damage its wings too badly, but try and stop it from flying. Gust!"

Bugsy looked a bit shocked when the massive twister appeared from thin air, as Twin beat her wings even harder than when she was a Pidgey. Even though he'd seen it loads of times, Green still marvelled at how powerful the Pidgeotto's wings could be.

"Take this!" Twin shouted, moving the twister with a final beat of her wings.

The swirling wind moved and twisted as it did as usual, and went straight towards the panicking Heracross. Just before the bug type had a chance to move, the Gust attack hit it and swallowed it up into the middle, forcing it to fight against the wind.

"Nice move!" Red yelled from the sidelines. "How did she do that!?"

"Twin's an Alpha!" Green shouted back. "Ice can explain it to you, but you'd need some paper and whatever! I'll tell you after this!"

"Heracross, Counter attack!" Bugsy shouted into the dome.

Green glanced over. He'd heard of the Counter attack. It was a newer fighting type move where the opponent took your pokemon's attack and then made it into their own power after getting hit, and then throwing back double the damage they were given. It was devastating if the move you used was a powerful one.

Since Gust wasn't a good move, Green knew Twin wasn't in much danger, but he didn't know how much damage the Heracross had taken.

The bug/fighting type roared and somehow moved its arms to do a sort of gripping motion inside of the twister. Impossibly, the twister actually started to move as if the Heracross had actually grabbed it, and then the bug pokemon started to spin itself, taking the twister with it. Twin just stared at it, not moving as she hovered in one place, just looking.

"Twin." Green said.

The Pidgeotto did nothing. She carried on staring at the twister, though Green had no idea what sort of expression she was wearing.

"Twin, move!" Green called.

No reaction again. The twister was getting closer, and it was starting to grow and get more intense. If Green knew this was what Counter was like, he'd have tried to use Sand Attack to get rid of the chances of it hitting Twin back.

"Twin, move now!" Green almost screamed. _"PLEASE!"_

Finally he got a reaction. The bird seemed to snap out of her trance, just at the last second, and then she moved out of the quickly. Thank Mew for her high speed.

The Heracross buzzed loudly and then moved the twister around to follow Twin's movements. Again, she moved, only hesitating just before it hit. The Heracross was actually making the twister faster and stronger, which made it a lot harder to dodge the attacks for Twin, even if she was quick to move.

"Quick Attack!" Green called to her. "Right in the middle!"

"Are you insane, human!?" Twin cawed, just narrowly dodging the twister again. "That would surely kill me!"

"Just do it!"

"If I die, I am going to haunt you!" Twin snapped.

She spun around just as she was about to move again. A split second later, she was blasting towards the middle of the twister, with a trail of white and almost invisible dust behind her. Green guessed it was because of her being an Alpha that she got that weird dust stuff, but ignored it and watched his Pidgeotto dive right at the Heracross, in the middle of the twister.

_Slice!_

Twin didn't stop after hitting the bug inside the twister. She carried on and shot out of the twister, just stopping herself from hitting the ceiling of the dome. The Heracross buzzed angrily and tried to make the twister move upwards, but it wouldn't obey.

"Ah, I see now." Green heard Twin say. "You need not instruct me further, Green!"

"I can see that." Green muttered.

Twin shot down again, with the white dust behind her, and went into the twister.

_Slice!_

Somehow Green was reminded of how the swordfight the previous day had gone, but he forced it out of his mind and watched the Heracross try to turn so it wouldn't get hit a third time.

_Slice!_

It obviously didn't work, and Green could see the bug starting to get tired. The twister itself started to lose power and speed, bustling away with little energy as Twin continued to slice and slash at the Heracross with Quick Attack.

_Slice, slash!_

_Slice!_

_Slice!_

_Whoosh!_

_Thunk!_

The Heracross fell down onto the floor of the Gym arena, and Twin flew down gently, panting heavily. Her wings didn't tuck in like they normally did after a battle, they dropped down onto the floor and moved when she breathed in and out. The Heracross didn't move.

" . . . The winner is the challenger's Pidgeotto!" The referee shouted.

"Well, good match!" Bugsy laughed, returning his pokemon. Green felt slightly relieved when the pokeball sucked the Heracross in, meaning that the beaten pokemon wasn't dead. For a second he'd thought it was.

Bugsy grinned at him, and then threw out a second pokemon. The bug type that appeared was one that Green was very familiar with, as an opponent and as an ally.

"_CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" _The Scyther screeched. It quietened down a second after the screech, and then looked down to see Twin, and snorted.

"Meet Scyther, my best pokemon besides Heracross." Bugsy grinned. "She's the fastest and can hit you ten times before you even blink!"

Bug/flying. Double weakness to rock, normal weakness to flying. Twin was too tired and Amethyst was going to take several hits from the Scyther's claws before Green even got the chance to order a Rock Throw or something. But he had to take the chance anyway. Twin wouldn't last much longer, even if she wouldn't admit it.

"Return!" Green called, holding out her pokeball.

"What!?" Twin cried, looking over. "No! I refuse to give up just because you say so!"

"Too bad, Twin." Green told her quietly. "Scyther are ruthless. It won't spare you just because you're tired."

The Pidgeotto went silent. She stared at the ground for a few seconds, and then looked up at the Scyther, which looked like it was itching for a good fight. Or mauling, in its case. Twin sighed and looked up at Green.

"I understand. I will not fight now, but I will not go into that ball again. It is a miracle you managed to get me inside of it to begin with. Where is the opening for this thing?"

Green looked over at Bugsy and relayed her question.

"Ah, over there." Bugsy pointed to an almost invisible door that Green hadn't noticed before. "Usually it's only used for emergencies for the pokemon or something, but your Pidgeotto can use it. Hey, ref! Can you open the door for Green's pokemon!?"

The ref nodded and the invisible door opened up. Twin cawed quietly and flew out slowly, then went onto the sidelines next to Ice. Green watched the invisible door close again, and then he grabbed Amethyst's ball and threw her out into the field.

"Ah." The Geodude said as soon as she saw the Scyther. "Good choice for it, but-"

The Scyther screeched and then it was gone. Amethyst cried out in pain, and Green could see a small scratch on the top of her head, and then the Scyther was back in its original place. So, he was right then. The bug/flying pokemon was fast. One Rock Throw should have taken it down, but that was only if Amethyst could hit it. But the power it had didn't seem to be much, at least not compared to Amethyst's defence. Though, he should still be careful.

"Rock Throw!" Green yelled out.

Amethyst quickly threw out a rock she'd gotten from the field, but the Scyther moved out of the way quickly. Green noticed the thing's wings buzzing slightly, and figured that, like his own Scyther, it used them to move faster than the eye could follow. That was one of the reasons why Scyther were so feared. The other reason was that they could hit you so many times and you'd be down before you could even speak or blink. Horrifyingly fascinating, but Green wanted to keep his focus on the battle. He seemed to be losing it lately . . . his focus, that is.

"Go again!" Bugsy shouted.

The Scyther let out another terrifying screech, and then disappeared. Green waited for the hit on Amethyst, but nothing happened. He waited for a few more seconds, before he finally realised what was going on.

"Rock Throw, in front of you!" Green shouted.

Amethyst, though confused, obeyed. She threw out another rock with all the strength she had, and then yelped in shock when a new and more pained screech rang out. The Scyther appeared out of thin air, and fell to the ground, with a rock stuck in one of its legs.

"How did you know she was there?" Bugsy questioned, getting out the bug types ball.

"I've used that tactic myself." Green told him. "No one ever sees it coming because they don't know the benefits of a Scyther. Um, I-I'm not bragging, I swear. It's a fact."

"Hah, I know, kid." Bugsy laughed.

"We're the same age."

The Gym leader shrugged. Green looked into the dome to see Amethyst taking out the rock from the Scyther's leg, and then saying something he couldn't hear. The Scyther replied back, not harshly like he'd expected, and was then returned by Bugsy. Green did the same with Amethyst, though he murmured a quick 'thank you' when she was inside of it. The rock pokemon gave him a thumbs up inside the red sphere, and then Green put it away.

**oooo**

**-Outside the Gym-**

"Well, here's the Hive badge." Bugsy grinned, handing Green a round badge with the same design he'd seen on the strange red and black things on the wall. "It's basically the same design as a Ledyba's back shell, so I like to think I have more creativity then a lot of Gym leaders."

"Um, actually I wouldn't know." Green murmured, pocketing the badge.

"Oh?"

"I uh . . . So far this is the third Gym I've challenged in my whole life." Green told him, shrugging sheepishly. "The first was in Kanto, and I never got another one. Second is Oswald's one."

"Ah, him." Bugsy frowned. "He gave you a lot of grief didn't he? I heard about it in the newspaper."

"W . . . WHAT!?" Green almost shrieked, startling both Red and Blue. "T-that's in the . . . w-why is it even . . ."

"Hey, cool it!" Bugsy exclaimed, raising his hands to try and help back up his words. "Look, it was one page, and when someone beats Oswald, it's usually a big deal. Though . . . the way it said you battled . . . Oswald made the fight sound like you pretty much forced your pokemon to do it."

"He . . . did . . .?" Green asked quietly. "But . . . I didn't force them! I-in fact, it was them who encouraged me to even fight him!"

"I know what he said wasn't the truth, Green." Bugsy reassured him. "Whenever someone with a bad past comes up to his Gym and beats him, even if they've changed somewhat, then he always twists the newspaper reports and makes it sound like they hadn't changed."

"So, that's why all those Trainers were being even worse than normal . . ." Green sighed to himself.

"What do you mean?" Blue asked.

"Um, some Trainers on that Route before Union Cave. Most of them didn't want to battle me, and they all called me . . . names." Green mumbled. He felt silly just speaking. "I . . . I guess it was because they read that newspaper thing then . . ."

"Yeesh, how badly have people been treating you?" Red frowned. "I'm starting to think it was a bad idea to leave you alone to this place!"

"It wasn't that bad!" Green cried.

"Kid, they know you're lying." Ice told him flatly. "Just tell them the truth, ok?"

" . . . Fine, then." The boy sighed. "Ok, fine, it was bad and I was really close to just giving up and going back home, which would have proved to Gra- Oak that I can't change and be better then . . . whatever I was before."

"But it wouldn't have been your fault." Blue scoffed. "So there's no way he could blame you."

"He'd find some way, don't worry."

" . . . And I noticed you didn't refer to him as 'Grandpa' like you normally do." Blue commented. "What's up with that?"

" . . . He lied to me." Green simply told her. "He . . . I don't like it when people lie to me. He knows that."

"He didn't lie, he just told a warped truth." Red said. "Green, he did it for your own good!"

"He could have done it in a nicer way then saying 'here's a pokedex that gives you a headache and then makes you a walking deathbed for pokemon', though." Green said in monotone. "I honestly don't think he should have done that."

"This is just childish and you know it." Blue sighed, putting a hand to her face.

"So?"

"Look, how about a deal?" The aqua eyed girl said, taking the hand away. "I said I'd battle you here, so I'm gonna make a wager. If you win the battle, you get to do what you want and call Oak in your own time. If I win, however, then you have to call him tomorrow after you get the Luxury ball for Tick, got it?"

"Then I'll make sure I don't lose." Green snapped. He glared at her for a second, before dropping it. "Oh Mew, I can't even get mad at you anymore . . . You see what this has done to me?"

Red and Blue laughed, and somehow Bugsy caught on and laughed as well. Green, not being able to keep a straight face even after his own words, started to laugh along. And when the other two went silent, Green and Bugsy did the same, although they were confused.

"What's the matter?" Bugsy asked them.

"I've . . . never seen or heard Green laugh before." Blue said, starting to grin.

"I have, but it wasn't happy laughter." Red smiled as well. "Hey, you're finally becoming human!"

" . . . You didn't think I was human before all this?" Green asked, feeling a bit more then depressed.

"What? No, that was a joke!" Red cried, waving his hands around in panic. "Sorry. But still, neither of us ever heard you laugh properly before. We haven't even seen you smile, except for at the league."

" . . . I promised Ice I'd change." Green shrugged. "So . . . I should probably start out somewhere, right?"

"Good point. Anyway, when should you two battle?" Red asked.

"How about now?" Blue grinned. "We'll make it one-on-one so then I have a fair chance, because you've got four and I have three. Starter VS starter sound good?"

"Um. Grass types would kill Ice."

"I do have Ice Fang, kid." Ice reminded him.

"Oh, right. Nevermind then, I accept the challenge." Green nodded.

"What did he say?" Blue asked.

"Not telling you. You can find out in a bit."

"Aw. Meanie."

Green was tempted to laugh again, but he held it back to a tiny grin so he wouldn't shock them again.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: OVER 5000 WORDS. IN ONE CHAPTER. I AM TOTALLY SHOCKED. HOW DID I EVEN MANAGE THIS.

Green: . . . Quick question, since the battle is gonna be soon, how are you gonna cram in Twin's chapter?

Renny: . . . Well . . . Ok, I know I said I'd do it after Green gets the second badge, but the opportunity to make Ice scare the crap out of Bailey and Blue is too good to miss. It'll come after that, don't worry! I swear!

Red: Right . . . anyway, read, review and comment!

Renny: THAT'S MY LINE! TT-TT

Green: Why're you crying?

Renny: I was trying an emoticon thing. Looked like it worked to some degree.


	17. Chapter 17- Fight

Renny: So! We get some more of Red's POV this time. No, not in first person, third person. The first person thing will be chapter 20, and 21. Since I've already done Ice and Green for it, the next two first persons will be Twin and Amethyst, not necessarily in that order. Depending on how much people like Twin's Special Episode.

Red: My POV? But you already had that, didn't you?

Renny: At the end of one chapter where Green's POV wasn't actually needed. This is for the whole chapter, mainly because Green won't notice his own actions like an outsider looking at him would, and Blue's gonna be busy with the battle.

Red: . . . Good point.

Renny: I know. Anyway, since you people may or may not read this, I'd love to see some fanart of this fanfic. Not for ego purposes or anything, but I kinda wanna see how you people draw Green and his pokemon, and also the other characters as well. Please?

Red: So, my turn for the disclaimer, right?

Renny: Yup.

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Outskirts of Azalea town-**

Red didn't exactly know for sure, but he had the huge and distinct feeling that maybe Green was borderline insane, or at least disturbed by now. Sure, he thought the same thing with the old Green, the one who only cared for himself and how he looked to others (which failed completely), but this Green . . .

He was scared and timid, even if the smaller boy didn't show it.

During the past day or two, Red had seen a Green that was still the same as the old one, but wasn't as arrogant and more caring and . . . well, yeah. It seemed to Red that his friend wasn't exactly a normal person in the terms of personality, and maybe he didn't have one personality. Maybe he had more? Dwelling on the facts and stuff as they walked wasn't going to help, but it was all Red could do to stop himself from staring at Green and replaying how he'd half-frozen up in the Gym battle, and risk getting a glare from his Croconaw, Ice.

He wasn't sure what to do with himself, as Green walked over to one side of the mini field they'd found, and Blue onto the other. Green nodded to Ice, who stepped onto the field, and got into a fighting stance. Blue held out Bailey's ball and threw out the Bayleef with a grin, probably betting that her type advantage would be enough to take down Ice, but hopefully not kill him by accident.

Then Red's mind wondered back to Green, as he sat down with Twin, the rest of Green's pokemon, and his own of course. Red was worried about how badly Green would react to being left alone again, seeing as he seemed to have started relying on Red and Blue to calm him down. In his own confused mind, Red wondered if Green was even able to contemplate anything of that level yet.

Of course, maybe the fact that Red was sort of scared himself wasn't helping. While he was worried about Green's sanity, which may or may not have been present from the start, he was also worried about the media and how the newspapers would report this. Apparently Oswald lied about his battle with Green, so there was no telling what would happen with the incident if it ever got outside of Azalea.

"Start with Tackle, Bailey!" Blue shouted, pointing at Ice and grinning.

The green skinned pokemon cried out happily before starting off, bounding towards Ice with a newfound energy that Red never really saw in his own battles with Blue. Most of the time she just did lazy stuff and only used Tackle if she wanted to, other times she threw up her shield or shot some leaves at her opponent.

"Stay." Green ordered Ice. The Croconaw nodded, and Red wondered what the heck Green was doing, letting a _grass type_ of all things get close to a water type.

Or maybe this was the tactician Bugsy had seen? Maybe it was so subtle that no one, not even Green, had noticed it, and it grew until he was doing it even without his own knowledge?

Bailey got closer, still grinning, before suddenly veering off towards the side. She cannoned into Ice's side, knocking the crocodile off his feet, and basically forcing him to back away from her. But Ice didn't retaliate.

Red thought he heard Green mutter something under his breath, but with his distance Red could only hear the faint whisper of a word he couldn't hear properly. Ice seemed to be able to hear it just fine though, and Bailey was too focused on fighting to actually bother to listen.

Blue seemed to be as confused as Red was. Her face was twisted, and she looked like she was about to ask what the heck Green was doing, before Bailey moved again with her orders.

"Wait, don't Tackle him!" Blue shouted. "Razor Leaf!"

Bailey ignored her. With a loud cry of "BAIL!" the Bayleef hit Ice in the side again, but this time . . .

Ice grabbed her head before he even fell, and righted himself. His clawed hands held Bailey's head tightly, and he glanced over at Green for a split second.

Green nodded, and suddenly the air got a lot colder than what it should have been. Ice seemed to cackle, and his jaws opened and revealed rows of sharp and painful-looking teeth that Red decided he did not want to get at the other end of. And then he saw it.

Ice's fangs seemed to freeze over for a few seconds. Bailey stopped to watch, ceasing her struggles, and Blue stared with worried fascination. Ice's fangs somehow made mist, probably from how cold his breath was most likely, and then he snarled something.

_Crunch!_

Ice's jaws clamped right down onto Bailey's back, and Red could see a slow and scary looking sheet of ice slither its way over her back, starting from where Ice had his jaws clamped down. Bailey was no longer watching, she was screeching in pain.

Her struggles continued again, and then Ice finally let go and let the Bayleef stumble around, squawking in pain.

"W-what the Distortion World was that!?" Blue shrieked. If Red didn't know any better, or if he wasn't almost in shock, he would have done the same thing.

"Ice Fang." Green explained, at the same time as Ice started saying something in his own language, most likely explaining it to Bailey. "Ice turns his fangs into pure, freezing ice and then bites. The ice spreads on the target's body, but only when he crunches the body and _bam_, they're just little bits of ice in his jaws."

Something in his voice was a bit horrified as well, though his expression said nothing of the sort. Red guessed Green was still going back to yesterday, even if he'd been 'convinced' that it hadn't been his fault, and was trying not to break down in the middle of a battle over Ice's . . . Ice Fang.

"That's horrific and cool at the same time!" Red called, smiling. Both battling Trainers smiled back over to him, and then went back to the battle.

The ice had disappeared from Bailey's back, though the cold still remained. Somehow Ice had made the air itself colder than what it should have been, and kept it like that. Maybe Green was planning to use Ice Fang again?

But . . .

If Ice Fang was his trump card, then why use it so early? Maybe to throw Blue off, scare her into submitting?

It would make sense. The bet had been 'Blue wins, talk to Grandpa, no choice, Green wins, has a choice, probably won't speak to him', after all. Maybe Green was actually going to do whatever it took to win?

Or maybe to get a bit of revenge after the last attempted fight had gone down so badly, even if Blue hadn't been the one fighting him. Red wasn't sure anymore. He prided himself on being able to read Green's movements, but now this new Green, awkward and unable to be read, was giving him trouble.

"Razor Leaf!" Blue shouted.

Bailey actually heard her. The Bayleef growled and swung her head around, forcing some stray leaves and a few made up ones to sway with her massive leaf, and then threw the whole lot of them, at razor speed, right at Ice. The Croconaw looked back at Green, as did Red to see how he would counter them, and-

Green had shut down.

He wasn't exactly looking at the leaves, but it looked as though he was trying to look at the same time. His eyes were glazed over, and now Red was sure he wasn't 100% with them anymore.

"CROC!" Ice screeched. A split second passed and Ice went back to the leaves, which were somehow being controlled by Bailey's weird pseudo-psychic. Apparently grass types were a lot better at that, then water or fire. Red wasn't actually sure how it worked.

The leaves swirled around Ice in a sort of tornado, much like the one that Twin had made right in the middle of the Gym battle, and then started slicing Ice's body.

The Croconaw shook his head as one sliced his cheek, and then he opened his mouth. Red watched as Ice's fangs turned to ice again, and then saw the pokemon breath out. The mist appeared again, and then the next leaf that tried to slice Ice was frozen in place, and then it fell harmlessly to the ground. Ice did that for the next lot that tried to slice him, until his whole body, and the area around him, was covered in the mist.

The last leaf fell down, frozen in place. Bailey looked shocked, as did Blue, and Green was starting to come back into the real world, looking around as if he didn't know where he was. Ice held up a claw or two, and then dashed over and pulled Green onto the ground quickly.

Amethyst, Twin and Tick rushed over as well. Red didn't know what to do, and a glance at Blue told him she didn't either. It felt painful, knowing that you could do something to help, but you weren't the right one to actually help. So Red let Green's pokemon do the talking, even though it was only Green who knew what they were saying to begin with.

"Hey, are you ok!?" Blue called out. Bailey blinked at the scene before herself, clearly not much in the way of caring.

"He looks fine, but . . ." Red trailed off. Sure, Green did look like he was sort of fine, except for the fact that he wasn't focusing properly. Even Red could tell that from a distance.

" . . . He needs time." Blue mumbled, suddenly next to him and crouching, watching the little scene in front of them.

"Yeah." Red agreed. "But . . . should we go with him for a bit? I mean, he's . . . his pokemon are good enough to help him, but sooner or later he'll need a person to do something. Right?"

"Not yet though." Blue said. "If he can manage to get to Goldenrod without us, he should be fine on his own for the rest of this journey. If not, then I'm not sure what would happen."

They went silent for a while. Green hugged Tick, though not very hard of course, and continued to listen to what the rest of his pokemon were saying. Red, again, wished that he could actually understand them as well. At least then he'd be able to join in the conversation instead of relying on Green to translate when he clearly wasn't in the right state of mind to do so.

And then Green stood up, placing Tick on the ground, and nodded, smiling slightly. Twin threw up her wings and cawed something, Amethyst clapped her hands, and Ice grinned, showing his scary teeth. Then Twin, Amethyst and Tick went back over to Red, and sat down again. Twin seemed to start up a small conversation with Quil, Red's Quilava.

Blue blinked and then went back over to her side of the field, Bailey following without a sound, and both got into position again.

"You good to carry on?" Blue called across the field.

"Yeah!" Green nodded back.

Green ordered another Ice Fang, and Blue got Bailey to use Reflect before the Ice could attack. His fangs bounced harmlessly off of the shield, and then it disappeared in a burst of light.

"Well, this may go on for a while." Red muttered to the pokemon beside him.

"Pidgeo." Twin murmured, watching quietly. Again he wished he could understand her like Green could, but he knew the price if he ever did.

A while later, Ice took his jaws from Bailey and then stepped back when she collapsed, groaning in pain. Blue sighed and returned the pokemon, mumbling something to her ball, and then looked over at Green as Ice spun around and went straight over him.

"Ok, you got a choice." She told the boy. "Talk to him, or don't talk to him."

"Not yet." Green shook his head. He didn't even look at Red or Blue.

Well, at least Red didn't have to deal with the reaction Green would have if he spoke with his Grandfather. Oak wasn't going to like this at all.

**oooo**

**-The next morning, pokemon centre-**

"_So . . . he won't speak to me? Because I lied to him?"_

Red nodded solemnly. "Sorry, professor . . ."

Oak sighed and shook his head, waving his hand. The screen fizzed for a second, and the old man adjusted the frame and it went away.

"_No worries. At least I know why he isn't reporting to me anymore."_

"He never did." Red smiled slightly, propping his head up with his hand.

"_I know, but I needed him to. As much as I value your information, I also need his." _Oak explained. _"But, I suppose I'll have to make do with yours. So, what's the word?"_

"Well . . . he saved Azalea from this new bunch of weirdoes called Team Sovereign." Red reported carefully.

"_Ah, I've heard of them. Terrorist-Extremists I think, or at least that's what the newspaper called them." _Oak nodded.

"Hold on, you've- Where did you hear- about, about them?" Red stammered.

"_They were in Pallet town a few days ago, when you three went off to go to Johto. Tried to take away some kid's pokemon, but the whole town retaliated and they went off. Now I know where they went." _Oak told him. _"And you say Green saved Azalea from them?"_

Red nodded and quickly went over what happened a couple of days ago. He thought about leaving out the part with Green accidently killing the grunt, but he decided against it and told Oak.

"_Ah . . . I was afraid this would happen." _Oak sighed after a few seconds. He put a hand to his face and dragged it down like he was tired.

"What do you mean?" Red frowned.

"_Red . . . Hmm . . . I'm not going to explain exactly what it means unless Green wants me to. But . . . I did expect this to happen." _Oak said. _"I was never sure whether or not Green would actually be able to kill someone, but with his skills . . ."_

"Professor, what are you talking about?" Red pressed. "Please, I won't tell Green you told me, ok?"

"_No, Red. This is his decision whether or not to tell you." _Oak said firmly. _"Do not, and I do mean this, do not ask him about it until he's not as . . . spaced out as he is right now. Speaking of which, how is he?"_

Red sighed at the abrupt change in topic, but he went along with it. Didn't want to make the old man angry after all.

"He's coping. He kinda had another nightmare again, but his pokemon helped him out."

"_And . . . flashbacks?"_

"It happened two days ago. He freaked out over a small knife this morning." Red muttered. "I think he's still having them, badly."

"_Even so . . . leave him alone for now." _

"W-why?" Red cried. "He needs help!"

"_Yes, and he has his pokemon for that." _Oak nodded.

"No, human help! Pokemon can only do so much, professor." Red protested.

"_You forget, he can understand them." _The old man pointed out. _"Just wait until he gets to Goldenrod. If he can manage it without having a panic attack, he'll be fine. If not, then you can go with him until he's better, got it?"_

"Yes sir . . ." Red sighed.

"_Good. Now then, I need to go. One of the new Eggs is about to hatch and I want to record how long it takes. Call me when you next meet up with him." _Oak said, before the screen turned blank again.

Red sighed and pulled a hand over his face, then took it off. He leaned back into the chair and frowned, looking over at where Green and Blue were sitting with their pokemon, in the food court of the pokemon centre. Apparently, because he'd saved the town, all food they got there was free. Well, at least he wasn't being received as some murderer then. That was a good start.

Red got up and walked over, and then sat down heavily next to Green, who glanced at him curiously. Luckily, the boy didn't say anything to him. Blue, however, didn't have any tack whatsoever.

"What did he say, then?" She asked, lazily taking some chicken and stuffing it into her mouth. Green winced, though whether or not her manners were the cause Red didn't know.

"He asked me to tell him about what's been . . . uh, going on." Red said. "He was worried about you, Green, so at least it shows he cares, right?"

"Not enough to tell me the truth." Green muttered.

"You can't be sour over that forever." Blue scoffed, rolling her eyes. "One day you'll either have to call him, or you'll meet him somewhere in Johto or something. Then what will you do?"

"Not speak to him."

"Croc." Ice said from Green's other side, glaring at him.

"I stand by what I said." Green mumbled to him over his salad.

"What did he say?"

"He said 'Green' and then glared at me. You guess." Green told Blue.

Ah, now that was part of the old Green coming back. While Red never liked the way he was, having the old Green's snark being turned onto someone else was funny, and Red could see why it was probably a first defensive line for Green. It made others laugh, and because Green didn't possess the ability to make friends normally, he had probably decided that making people laugh was second-best.

Well, Red thought, smiling. It would certainly work, if only because it was Green.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: I finished this off in the dead of night, when I should be sleeping. You should all be very, very happy I love you all so badly that I am actually willing to think about an idea while I'm trying to sleep, get up, think 'fuck this shit' and then write it.

Green: The fully-awake Renny would like to apologise for half-asleep Renny, who isn't actually that nice.

Renny: Damn straight I ain't. Review please.


	18. Chapter 18- Special Episode- Twin

Renny: Well, I can finally get to Twin's Special chapter.

Green: You did say that you'd do it after the Gym battle, not after me and Blue's battle.

Renny: Well, yes, I did. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to write something like Green_ finally_ winning a battle against either of them, through sheer force of will and also a bit of fear, mainly because Ice Fang in this world is an almost devastating move.

Green: I find that a little bit more than offensive.

Renny: You'll get over it. Anyway, I'm not sure how long this chapter will actually be, seeing as Twin's only about . . . seven years old? Younger? Older? I dunno, but she's only that old, so I won't exactly be trying my best to explain her stuff. But we do get to see the ceremony that made her the Queen of her flock. And we also get to see her Dad and siblings in action as well, so yeah.

Red: You know you spent like seven chapters in Azalea, right? Even Violet city wasn't that long. Are you hung up on it or something?

Renny: Well, Team Sovereign weren't in Violet, so maybe that's true. I'm not sure really. But anyway, last chapter I asked if anyone could draw Green and his team, or anyone really, so the offer still stands~ I wanna see how others perceive him and the rest of the characters, so please?

Green: Whose turn is it for the disclaimer now?

Renny: Ummm . . . Yours. I think. Wait a second. *Checks* Yep, it's your turn now.

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon, she only owns her team and the plot.

Renny: Well said, for once.

Green: Do you want me to say the opposite and you can be arrested for theft?

Renny: I can easily delete this you know.

Green: . . . Fine, I won't be an ass.

Renny: Hah, I win! On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

Humans were strange and fickle creatures, yet they had such amazing abilities. At one point in her small life, Twintera Gracious Heradon the third had admired the humans for their imagination. And then she learned of how weak they were. A human would always be weak if they allowed themselves to look strong, using other creatures they should have never been able to control for fame.

It disgusted Twintera. Even the little humans were weak, using creatures that were almost as weak as they were, but still powerful. It shouldn't be natural, but to see a human with a domestic creature was a regular sight to see, almost every day on the 29th Pathway.

Occasionally she would see a human who had a domestic creature, and yet the human would be fighting alongside it instead of behind it, like the normal human would. Twintera did hold some respect for those humans, they understood what it was like to fight, and not just watch the fight.

And fight was all a wild creature could do for a pastime.

"You will not play with your brothers and sister, Twin?" Mother asked, looking down at the small Pidgey (the name Arceus himself decreed they have).

"No, Mother." Twintera replied quietly. "I shall not. They . . . do not wish for me to hinder them."

"I am sure if they allowed you to play, you would learn their rules soon enough. You are a smart creature." Mother cooed, nudging her gently. "Though young, you may be able to outwit the three of them."

"I would not know if I could." Twintera said, turning back to the three other Pidgey, bigger and stronger than she, who could not fly yet. They were trying to learn how to.

"You may be able to pick up the flight faster than they." Mother commented, watching the three idly. "Your wings are large for a chick."

"I know, you have said many times Mother." Twintera told her.

"Yes, and I will continue to speak those words until you realise they are true. Spread your wings, chick." Mother commanded gently.

" . . . Would they allow me to try?" Twintera asked quietly.

"Ah, so that is your qualm." Mother smiled. Twintera didn't know what that meant. "They shall allow you if I say so, and when they see your abilities, they will allow you to play with them."

"I do hope so. But . . . I do not wish to leave you alone." Twintera mumbled. She looked up at Mother, an old yet beautiful Pidgey with greyed feathers.

"I will be watching, always." Mother replied. "Now, come Twin. I will see to it that your siblings allow you to practise your flight."

The two got up, Twintera keeping an eye on her Mother, and walked over the branches to where the three older Pidgey were trying to steel themselves to fly down the branches. They'd already glided, and Twintera had done so by herself until she was almost a master at it.

"Soberon." Mother called to the eldest, who was just about to spread his darkened wings. He blinked slowly and put his wings away, and went over to Mother, and then glanced briefly at Twintera.

"Yes, Mother?" He asked, his deep but young voice calm.

"Would you allow your youngest sister to fly with you?" Mother queried, tilting her head almost innocently. "She wishes to learn how to fly with you."

"She is too young." Rutarian, the one with the most feathers, frowned. "She would not be able to-"

"Twintera has managed to master gliding." Mother interrupted. That earned Twintera three shocked looks from her three siblings. "Faster than all three of you, may I add. So, would it not do well to allow her to practise with you?"

"I would suppose." Soberon said, nodding slightly. "Come, sister. I shall show you what we have taught ourselves."

"Good chick." Mother smiled. She glided back to where the nest was and turned away, presumably to watch the rest of the flock as they went about their daily business.

"Why is she even here?" Reyna, the second eldest, hissed. "Soberon, why did you agree to help her?"

"Twintera has already mastered gliding, according to Mother." Soberon said coldly. "It is our duty to help her gain flight."

"We have not yet gained it either, brother." Rutarian pointed out, looking down at Twintera with a flat and bored look. "We should at least wait until we know a small amount of how to fly."

"We will learn together then." Soberon told them. "Reyna, Rutarian, do we agree?"

"I agree, if I must." Rutarian sighed.

" . . . Very well." Reyna muttered.

Although two out of three had been reluctant, Twintera managed to learn how to fly that day. It was glorious, to fly past Mother and actually shoot her a true smile, one which the old Pidgey returned with equal glee. Soberon learned soon after and was then flying by Twintera's side, and her other two siblings, Reyna and Rutarian, were left in the tree trying to change from gliding to flapping their wings helplessly.

After helping the two out of pure pity, Twintera had been allowed to play with them. In the skies, she ruled the games they played, and on the branches it was a matter of luck who won which game they played that day. Twintera grew stronger and was soon almost the same size as her siblings, but then one day, the flock traditions came and almost tore everything apart.

"M-Mother, why must we keep this rule?" Reyna almost cried, her wings dragging by her side as she walked alongside the other three Pidgey who were her siblings. They were, for once, on the ground. But no humans would come here, the sentries would make sure of it.

"We must keep it to allow the traditions of old to be remembered." Mother replied. She sounded cold, but she was slouching. Twintera knew she didn't want to do this to them. "Keep up, chicks."

Except none of them were chicks anymore. While they were still young, all four were independent from their Mother, and they would soon be living on their own and not interacting with her as though she was related. Mother would soon be just another Pidgey in the flock, though Twintera knew she would never stop thinking of Mother as Mother.

They finally made it to the clearing, where several other chicks their own ages, and their Mothers, were already waiting. The King, who was also Twintera's own Father, was settled on a large rock above the entire flock.

This was the ceremony to allow the chicks to become a true part of their flock. To spread their wings and fly from their Mother's nest. Many looked happy about it, others looked more apprehensive. Few appeared to be feeling what Twintera was, dread at the fact that she could no longer address her own Mother as such, at least not out loud.

"Greetings." The King, a large Pidgey with a long crest and even larger wings, called. "We are all gathered in the clearing to commence the monthly ceremony to allow chicks to stray from their Mother's sides. Each and every one of you young chicks must swear to uphold our rules and traditions, our ways and our rights, as your Mother will have taught you. Should you not swear to do so, you will be cast out and treated as an enemy when one of this flock sees you.

"Should you break any of the rules, or traditions, you will be executed for treason. However, it will be forgiven if a human has captured you in a sphere, and you somehow make your way back to us. Your Mothers will now make their way to the flock."

Mother cast one sad look at the four siblings, who were trying not to cry. Twintera knew that if she spoke now, she wouldn't be able to hold her tears. Mother walked away with the other Mother Pidgey, and Twintera forced herself to look back at the King, her Father.

"Four of you today are my own chicks." The King went on. "As tradition and by rules, the four of you will step forward and will be named as the Princes and Princesses of the flock of the 29th Pathway. Step forward, Soberon."

Soberon, calm but misty eyed, stepped forward ten claws as Mother had instructed them all. The King watched him, and when Soberon stopped moving, right in front of the rock, he nodded to the smaller Pidgey.

"From this day forth, all of the flock will refer to him as Prince Soberon." The King called. "Step forward, Reyna."

Reyna copied Soberon, though she just looked glum. She looked up at the King, and he looked sympathetic. Of course, he had to have done this before as well.

"From this day forth, the flock will refer to her as Princess Reyna. Step forward, Rutarian." The King said.

Rutarian, looking less misty eyed and glum then the others, but still saddened, came forward next.

"From this day forth, the flock will refer to him as Prince Rutarian." The King nodded to him and Rutarian nodded back. Then the King went back to the last sibling. "Step forward, the youngest, Twintera."

She did so, feeling like she was leaving a giant part of her gizzard behind with her Mother. Walking forward meant severing the bonds she had with Mother, but to break this tradition now would be to force the King to cast out his own daughter, something which had never been done in the history of the flock.

Once she'd stopped, next to Rutarian, the King spoke again.

"From this day forth, the flock will refer to her as Princess Twintera." He called. "Turn around, so that the flock may see the four of you."

The now royal siblings turned around slowly, and faced the crowd of gathered Pidgey. The ones who were doing the ceremony with them looked almost heartbroken, and the ones who had already gone through it looked sympathetic like the King had done.

"From this day forth, I decree that all four of these Pidgey are my own chicks, my sons and daughters." The King's voice rang out. "They are now Princes and Princesses of the Gracious Heradon flock!"

The crowd cheered, though a few were half-hearted. The King silenced them, and carried on with the ceremony.

Twintera stopped listening after that. Her part in the ceremony had been done already, and now Mother was just another Pidgey of the flock. But Twintera would never stop thinking of her as a Mother.

Months later, it was announced that Soberon, the eldest of the royal siblings (Twintera was still trying to get used to the new title) would be the first in line to take the title of King from their Father when he retired. But as it were, things would never go to plan, would they?

Soberon had been out hunting the Rattata for food when a human came in with a strange creature, with a rubber hide and a soft body. Twintera only understood part of the human's language, enough to know that it wanted Soberon for a domestic, so she got in front of her brother and protected him.

It wasn't enough. The rubber creature shot some sort of white energy at her and she fell down, unable to move, and hurt. Soberon didn't want her hurt any more than she already was, and he apologised and went willingly with the human, casting looks behind him before he was taken into the red and white ball. The human, apparently understanding the situation, healed Twintera.

While she didn't like the human for taking her brother, Twintera knew he would be in good hands if the human was willing to heal a wild creature and leave it, just because a newly domesticated creature wanted it. And then Reyna was captured three years later.

It was more messy this time, with a strange rocky beast that rolled around blindly. Reyna was taken down, and she ordered Twintera to stay hidden although it was everything Twintera could do not to rush out and Gust the rock thing away. The human captured Reyna and laughed, while the rock thing looked up at it hopefully. The human glared at the rock and then turned away, putting the rock thing into a ball as well. Reyna wasn't going to be as lucky as Soberon then.

Rutarian was caught by a young human. The tiny little human had gotten lost in their Pathway, and while neither could speak the human's language, they both managed to find some way to communicate that they would take it to the nearest human nesting ground. They'd gotten to a rather small nesting ground, considering how many humans would build great grey nests that touched the skies, and the little human cried when it found its Mother.

Rutarian and Twintera watched the exchange, and Twintera knew that she and Rutarian were thinking of their Mother, who was now just another Pidgey. The tiny human said something to its Mother, and then turned to Rutarian and Twintera with one of the red and white balls. It held it out, and the two Pidgey exchanged glances.

" . . . I will go with the human." Rutarian said.

"W-what?" Twintera mumbled in shock. "But you have always said that you would never become a humans domestic."

"Yes, but I believe that with the right guidance, I could possibly teach this human to not be as . . . harsh as the one who captured Reyna was." Rutarian told her. Ah, so that was what he wanted to do.

"I understand, brother." Twintera nodded solemnly. "I shall take over as the heir to Father's leadership, you will teach the humans kindness."

"I believe it fits our roles." Rutarian smiled. "You were always meant for this, you know. Soberon wasn't suited for Kingship, he was too kind. Reyna was too harsh, though I hope she is doing well with the human. I am a teacher and care for the young ones, and you are the leader. Do well in your Rite of Passage, dear sister Twintera."

"Thank you, brother Rutarian."

Rutarian went to the little human, who seemed delighted to have him. After one last look, Rutarian was consumed into the light of the ball, and Twintera flew away to tell the flock the news.

As expected, everyone panicked. It took the combined efforts of Twintera, the King and the only calm warriors of the flock to calm the others down and explain that Twintera was going to go through the Rite of Passage immediately, so she would be able to stay with the flock.

The normal Rite of Passage only allowed Pidgey of ten years to enter, and since Twintera was only four, that meant she would not have been allowed. However, it needed to be decided in case she was captured by a human, before the Rite of Passage was done in six years' time. She knew what it was. It was something that the Kings and Queens of old had made up to assure the other members of the flock that they would not be captured by the humans, and only the royal family and the closest relations knew of the falsehood of the ceremony.

However, it was excused in the eyes of Lord Arceus, because he understood the ways of peace, and keeping that peace.

The first trial Twintera had to go through involved hunting down twenty Rattata in one night. She did so flawlessly, and brought back twenty-two instead. The feast that was held allowed all fifty members of the flock to eat well the next morning, and Twintera was allowed a week's rest until the next trial began.

The second trail was one of endurance. If Twintera could endure attacks from the sentry creatures, known as Sentret, she would be worthy of battling with them. She didn't like how the Sentrets claws hurt her and scratched her feathers, but she endured it for three sun-moves and eventually got through to the last trial.

This one was one of stealth and cunning. Many royals had failed this, but seeing as the flock rules said that a King or Queen is needed, those that failed were lied for. Twintera had no desire to be lied for; she would get through it, or be exiled from the flock.

All she had to do was pose as a domestic creature for three days, in a human nest. She chose the nest to the east, seeing as Rutarian would most likely point out her presence and the whole thing would be ruined.

It worked for the most part. Other creatures, Rattata or bugs like Caterpie and Weedle, questioned her presence but didn't say anything to the humans. Three days later, a human tried to capture her, after figuring out that she was wild by using some sort of thing to scan her with a red light, and she fought back with all her newfound strength because the three days were up, and she blew away the whole team of domestic creatures the human sent at her.

Twintera returned to the flock as a fully-fledged Princess of the Gracious Heradon flock of the 29th Pathway.

For two more years she remained, hunting with the parties sent out by her Father, and was now starting to share the leadership with him. Twintera had almost forgotten her own Mother, when one day, it had been declared that the Queen was dead. Twintera did not cry, as she thought she would have years ago, but she mourned the loss of the Pidgey who birthed her egg and laid with her for one long season after she hatched.

Three months later, the King was captured by a human with blue feathers. Twintera had already been though the Rite of Passage, and so she became the Queen without any objections, seeing as she was basically running the flock anyway. No one mourned the loss of the King because he was still alive somewhere, but when he did pass the gods would grant him a star in the night sky to tell them. Twintera stayed up at night sometimes to watch for that star.

It never came.

What did come, however, was a human who spoke in the creature language. Not just gargled nonsense like many humans spouted, but full words and even sounds. It had with it some blue creature that seemed snarky and disrespectful, and Twintera thought that this marvel of a human would deserve more than a snarky creature for a companion. But after hearing what the human had done, she agreed with the blue creature and called out as such, and he thanked her.

But when they appeared again just a few sun-moves later, Twintera was angry. The human, while being a strange and amazing creature to speak their language, had disturbed the peace of night and Twintera's star-gazing. She followed the human for a while with a quarter of the flock's fighting force, and then they made themselves known when the blue creature spat water at Twintera.

For the human's insolence, and the blue creature's outright disrespect, Twintera tore apart the Spearow that was with them as a warning. The human didn't get the warning as it was, and it threw one of the balls at Twintera. She dodged the first one, and then ended up flying right into the path of one of her own flock's claws. The entire fight stopped and Twintera, angry and broken from her own search for her Father's star, killed the warrior on the spot.

And then she felt a strange sucking sensation, and she was entitled to a fake forest with a white sky.

She didn't know how many sun-moves had passed after, but the human let her out of the ball, and it didn't even look at her as it kneeled in front of the little rock thing it had made. The blue thing growled at her and started attacking her, shouting something about murder, and the human broke them up.

And then after being knocked unconscious, she had been healed somehow, and then brought back out. The human explained things, and got slightly overemotional, but Twintera became Twin and she learned that the human's name was Green, and that it was a he. She also learnt that the blue creatures name was Ice, and he was something called a Totodile, and that the Pathway was called a Route to humans and domestics.

After some days, and some mishaps, Twin became a part of Green Oak's team, one that would help him through his bad times, and one that he would repay in kind, of course. Twin liked it with them.

It was better with Green then with her flock, and to be honest? Twin couldn't care less what happened to flock now.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: The last bit was a bit uncalled for, but it's Twin we're talking about, so don't worry about it. She's all dramatic and stuff.

Green: Wow, I have to admit, this was probably worth the wait.

Red: There's barely any dialogue.

Renny: If there was dialogue, there'd be more pages then just eleven. This thing's nearly reached 4000 words anyway, so I'll end it here. Read, review and comment, and please may I have some fanart of this? I reeeaaally wanna know how you people see them.


End file.
